Negotiations are underway between
Israel and Hizbullah for a
large-scale prisoner exchange. Israel is reportedly willing to release
hundreds of Palestinian and Lebanese prisoners in exchange for Israeli
businessman Elchanan Tannenbaum and the bodies of three missing IDF
soldiers.
Two news agencies took this opportunity to provide short ― but
misleading ― synopses of the Israel-Hizbullah conflict.
― Agence France-Presse
states only that Hizbullah "was instrumental
in the guerrilla war that led to the May 2000 Israeli troop pullout
from southern Lebanon after 22 years of occupation."
While this statement is factually accurate, it completely
misrepresents the nature of the Israel-Hizbullah conflict by drawing
upon an earlier historical period and encouraging an understanding of
Hizbullah as freedom fighters.
In fact, Hizbullah was formed in 1982 not merely to resist IDF
presence in Lebanon, but to destroy Israel and extend radical Islamic
control over the entire region, as stated in Hizbullah's
official
manifesto, and as repeated publicly
by every Hizbullah leader for the past twenty years.
Moreover, Hizbullah has continued to attack northern Israeli civilians even after the IDF's 2000 withdrawal from southern Lebanon.
This, after UN secretary general
Kofi Annan
determined the IDF
withdrawal to be "in full compliance with Security Council resolution 425." Just last month, an
Israeli teenager in northern Israel was killed by Hizbullah shelling.
So why does AFP reach back to the earlier timeframe of IDF presence in
Lebanon? This maneuver ignores the more germane and telling facts
regarding Hizbullah's ongoing terror against Israeli citizens.
The more relevant time frame to provide background for today's news
report is post-Israeli withdrawal, when the actual Israeli prisoner
and soldiers who stand to be released were abducted.
Comments to AFP: contact@afp.com
― Associated Press summarized the conflict in a similar manner:
Hizbullah merely "fought Israeli troops during the 1980s and 1990s in
south Lebanon."
In an apparent response to critical feedback, AP added an additional
line in later editions: "Since Israel's withdrawal from Lebanon in
2000, Hezbollah has occasionally shelled Israel and attacked Israeli
troops because of a remaining border dispute."
The "border dispute" justification mentioned by AP is Hizbullah's
claim to Shabaa Farms, a region in the northern Golan Heights that
even the UN
recognizes to stand outside of any legitimate Lebanese claim. Shaaba Farms is
clearly used by Hizbullah, therefore, as a mere pretext for ongoing
anti-Israeli terror.
By granting this pretext legitimacy, AP further obscures the ferocity
of Hizbullah's actual campaign ― to wipe Israel off the map.
Comments to AP: feedback@ap.org
Let's not forget that American officials consider Hizbullah one of the
most dangerous terrorist groups in the world ― one that has killed,
over the past 20 years, more than 300 Americans, and served as model
for world terror. As writer
Jeffrey Goldberg states, "Al Qaeda learned
the value of choreographed violence from Hizbullah."
Thank you for your ongoing involvement in the battle against media
bias.
HonestReporting.com
