"Hullo, this is the IDF..."
Is it the number, the sheer large number of people killed in Lebanon that warrants such an international furor? No, it can't be because there were only 60 killed, not 600 or 6,000. Does this warrant a UN Security Council resolution? And this number was a "Lebanese estimate" as Secty Gen of the UN Kofi Annan announced in his speech at the Security Council. Now, who does that mean made the estimates, not the Lebanese Government, or the Red Cross, but local Lebanese Shi'ites, who are totally loyal to Hizbollah. So we are being conned again. Certainly seeing dead children is depressing, but considering how ruthless Hizbollah and most fundamentalist Muslims are in treating their women and children (remember the Taliban), how does anyone really know how many people were killed in that attack in Lebanon, or whether or not the IAF or Hizbollah were responsible.
Did the Security Council meet when NATO killed hundreds of Serbs in their attacks on Serbia over the Kossovo crisis? Did the Security Council meet and criticize Russia when they caused thousands of civilian casualties in Grozny that was directly bombarded twice? No, this attention is only warranted by Israel, that's the reason. Of course, in WWII the British tried to kill German civilains, but that was a long time ago, before they became so sensitive. Did you know that the RAF attempted to bomb the Gestapo HQ in Copenhagen at the beginning of the war because the resistance were imprisoned there, and instead hit the school next door (this was before precision guided bombs), too bad they killed a hundred children, but they got over it.
Remember the shooting of Mohammed al Dura, the boy who was supposed to have been shot by the IDF in Gaza in 2000, at the beginning of the intifada. It received incredible international coverage lambasting Israel for such brutality, and yet it was a set up, perpetrated by one Palestinian TV cameraman working for a French network. And remember the explosion on the beach in Gaza a few months ago that killed a family of 7 people, that was supposed to have resulted from an Israeli naval bombardment, except that the navy had not fired, and neither had the IAF at the time of the explosion. Further investigation revealed that it was probably a shell being used as a mine by Hamas that an unfortunate family has stumbled on. But the damage was already done, it was blamed on Israel.
How many countries have dropped leaflets to warn civilians to leave dangerous areas of conflict, does anyone know of any other apart form Israel? Not only that, the IDF have recently been telephoning homes in Gaza and Lebanon that they want to hit, in order to avoid civilian casualties. If someone answers they warn them to get out of the house, and they only fire when they have positive confirmation that they have left. If there is no answer they do not hit the building. Can you imagine the surprise of a Hizbollah member who receives such a call, "Hullo, this is the IDF, we are warning you to get out of your house because its going to be blasted in 5 minutes." What other armed forces would go to such extremes to avoid civilian casualties. So, it is not beyond the realm of possibility that Hizbollah set up this "incident" knowing how the western press would respond, having had lot's of experience in media manipulation.
All this nonsense about the incident in Kana in deliberately intended to take the focus away from the bigger issue, namely the ceasefire that everyone is supposed to want. The media is once again making a big mistake in asking what is Hizbollah's conditions for the ceasefire. Neither Israel nor the UN is considering directly involving Hizbollah in the establishing of a ceasefire. No terrorist organization gets to set the agenda. If the UN SC decides on a ceasefire, and this includes the formation of an international force that will police southern Lebanon and will disarm Hizbollah, then they are highly unlikely to agree to that. It can only be accomplished if they are already so diminished that they are unable to put up any significant resistance. That is what Israel and the US are aiming for. Only in this way can Lebanon be saved, can Iran be defeated, and can Israel have peace on its northern border.
Did the Security Council meet when NATO killed hundreds of Serbs in their attacks on Serbia over the Kossovo crisis? Did the Security Council meet and criticize Russia when they caused thousands of civilian casualties in Grozny that was directly bombarded twice? No, this attention is only warranted by Israel, that's the reason. Of course, in WWII the British tried to kill German civilains, but that was a long time ago, before they became so sensitive. Did you know that the RAF attempted to bomb the Gestapo HQ in Copenhagen at the beginning of the war because the resistance were imprisoned there, and instead hit the school next door (this was before precision guided bombs), too bad they killed a hundred children, but they got over it.
Remember the shooting of Mohammed al Dura, the boy who was supposed to have been shot by the IDF in Gaza in 2000, at the beginning of the intifada. It received incredible international coverage lambasting Israel for such brutality, and yet it was a set up, perpetrated by one Palestinian TV cameraman working for a French network. And remember the explosion on the beach in Gaza a few months ago that killed a family of 7 people, that was supposed to have resulted from an Israeli naval bombardment, except that the navy had not fired, and neither had the IAF at the time of the explosion. Further investigation revealed that it was probably a shell being used as a mine by Hamas that an unfortunate family has stumbled on. But the damage was already done, it was blamed on Israel.
How many countries have dropped leaflets to warn civilians to leave dangerous areas of conflict, does anyone know of any other apart form Israel? Not only that, the IDF have recently been telephoning homes in Gaza and Lebanon that they want to hit, in order to avoid civilian casualties. If someone answers they warn them to get out of the house, and they only fire when they have positive confirmation that they have left. If there is no answer they do not hit the building. Can you imagine the surprise of a Hizbollah member who receives such a call, "Hullo, this is the IDF, we are warning you to get out of your house because its going to be blasted in 5 minutes." What other armed forces would go to such extremes to avoid civilian casualties. So, it is not beyond the realm of possibility that Hizbollah set up this "incident" knowing how the western press would respond, having had lot's of experience in media manipulation.
All this nonsense about the incident in Kana in deliberately intended to take the focus away from the bigger issue, namely the ceasefire that everyone is supposed to want. The media is once again making a big mistake in asking what is Hizbollah's conditions for the ceasefire. Neither Israel nor the UN is considering directly involving Hizbollah in the establishing of a ceasefire. No terrorist organization gets to set the agenda. If the UN SC decides on a ceasefire, and this includes the formation of an international force that will police southern Lebanon and will disarm Hizbollah, then they are highly unlikely to agree to that. It can only be accomplished if they are already so diminished that they are unable to put up any significant resistance. That is what Israel and the US are aiming for. Only in this way can Lebanon be saved, can Iran be defeated, and can Israel have peace on its northern border.
posted by Jack Cohen at 6:09 PM
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