Media-Terrorists
Yamin Zakaria – International Institute of Peace August 17, 2006
According to the Western media coverage, the conflict between Hizb-Ullah and Israel appears something along the line as this:
Hizb-Ullah, a terrorist organization armed by Iran and Syria, launched an unprovoked attack against an Israeli army border post. As a result some Israeli soldiers were killed and two were kidnapped. Israel had no other option to get the soldiers released. So, they responded by bombing towns, roads, and bridges looking for Hizb-Ullah. Inevitably inflicted collateral damages, because Hizb-Ullah terrorists were hiding amongst civilians.
Now let us look at the facts to ascertain the reality. Listed below is a brief synopsis of the conflict:
Initial reports stated that Hizb-Ullah launched a raid on July 12, against an Israeli army border post, in the process killing three Israeli soldiers and took two prisoners. Hizb-Ullah then offered to exchange them for the hundreds of Lebanese and Palestinian prisoners held by Israel for decades.
However, according to the Lebanese police force, and various other sources [1], the two Israeli soldiers were clearly captured in Lebanese territory, near the border area of Alta Al-Chaab. The reports [1] also suggest that the conflict began, when Israel troops crossed into Lebanon on July 12. Then they were ambushed by Hizb-Ullah; two Israeli soldiers were captured, eight killed and over 20 wounded in retaliatory attacks inside Israeli territory.
Israel did not agree to Hizb-Ullah’s offer of prisoner exchange. Instead, invaded and attacked Lebanon. It bombed: ambulances, cars, roads, bridges, airports, electricity, and residential quarters. Israeli Air Force bombed roads and bridges, and then asked the civilians to leave their houses. When the civilians started to leave under such difficult circumstances, they were shot at by Israel’s ‘surgical’ strikes!
As a direct consequence of Israel’s ‘surgical’ strikes, the overwhelming number of victims has been the innocent civilians in Lebanon, most of them are women and children. In contrast, majority of the Israeli killed by Hizb-Ullah have been soldiers.
This contrast between Hizb-Ullah and Israel, with respect to the number of civilian casualties is very significant. Israel has greater capability to minimise civilian casualties than Hizb-Ullah, because of its high-tech guided weapons that are capable of surgical strikes. Therefore, one would have expected Hizb-Ullah, with their unguided low-tech weapons, to inflict greater levels of civilian casualties in proportion to the overall number of casualties that they have inflicted, in comparison to Israel.
However, the reality is the exact opposite, revealing the mindset of Israel and Hizb-Ullah. Israel has killed far more civilians in absolute terms and in proportion to the total number of casualties. Therefore, the victims (facts) of this conflict have demonstrated the identity of the real terrorists and the real freedom fighters. Despite all the evidence, the media has managed to create the impression that Israel is the victim, who is acting in self-defence against terrorists. Listed below are the points which illustrate how the media has managed to turned this myth into reality, and the reality into a myth:
Frequently amplifying the case for Israel.
From the onset of this conflict, the ubiquitous Western media have been acting as a mouthpiece for the Israeli army. The Zionist leaders and the pro-Israeli commentators have been given maximum airtime, while the voice for Hizb-Ullah or Iran or Syria is non-existent. Confirming that Zionist tentacles run deep inside the Western based media.
Labeling Hizb-Ullah as the aggressor
The media turned the aggressors into victims, and victims into aggressor. It is fact that Israel had 100s of kidnapped Lebanese and Palestinians in their prison, when it was screaming that Hizb-Ullah had taken two of its soldiers as prisoners. Also, it is fact that since the Israel withdrew from some of the territories of Lebanon in 2000, Israel has been violating the borders daily, according to the UN officials. Therefore, Hizb-Ullah has the right to retaliate in order to free their lands and free their prisoners. Hence Hizb-Ullah offered to exchange the prisoners, where as Israel sought to terrorise Lebanon.
Israel deserves aid but not Hizb-Ullah
The media constantly rants about Syria and Iran arming Hizb-Ullah, but when it is reminded of the far greater level of military aid that Israel gets from the US, the excuse they make is, Israel is not a terrorist organisation but Hizb-Ullah is. This is not an argument but emotionally calling names. Most people in fact see Israel as the real terrorist, state-terrorist that has killed defenseless civilians en masse like a coward and a real terrorist. Yes, finally a real terrorist that can never be confused with freedom fighters!
Is Hizb-Ullah a terrorist organisation?
As stated above, nobody can dispute that the overwhelming number of casualties has been the Lebanese and Palestinian civilians. Despite this, Israel is innocent and it is Hizb-Ullah that is labeled as a terrorist. Fact is, even the US dominated organization - the UN, refused to classify Hizb-Ullah as a terrorist organization; Muslims and non-Muslims across the globe view the group as an indigenous national resistance movement. Those who label the group as a terrorist organization, they have only provided evidence of Hizb-Ullah’s retaliation, without citing the context of the far greater levels of Israeli aggression.
Concealing the faces of the victims in Lebanon
The images of the dead Lebanese children and infants murdered by the Israeli forces were not shown during the initial phase of the conflict. Well after the second Qana massacre, when the emotions had subsided, some of the images were aired, while the likes of BBC kept repeating it was caused by “retaliation from Israel” or it was tragic but not terrorism or murder. Had it been Hizb-Ullah’s rockets killing Jewish children in Haifa, the language would have been: fanatics, fundamentalists, and extremists commit mass murder or terrorism! This disparity in attitude shows that the Zionist dominated Western media considers the blood of the Arabs/Muslims worth far less than Israelis or Western civilians. This reflects the Talmudic teachings of the Zionists and the racist (nationalistic) outlook of the Western powers.
In conclusion, the mass media is the primary tool for state-terrorists to give justification for their crimes. It is complicit in the heinous crime of killing civilians, because it conceals the much larger crimes of the state-terrorists. The media remains quiet on the causes, while the retaliation from the victim is projected in isolation as a crime.
Yamin Zakaria (www.iiop.org)
London, UK
Copyright © 2006 by Yamin Zakaria
[1] http://www.whatreallyhappened.com/israeli_solders.html
http://www.iiop.org/index3.php?recordID=173
Last updated 19/08/2006