August 1, 2006

by Omri Ceren

After the collapse of the building in Qana, Israel said that it was taking 48 hours to figure out how the hell they could make such a mistake. They spoke very slowly for the international press, and they tried to point out the obvious - that if they figured out what happened before the 48 hours were up, they’d go back to fighting the war that Hezbollah had launched against Israeli soldiers and civilians. Within 24 hours, it became pretty clear that Hezbollah was more than a little responsible for the tragedy, and so Israel followed through with their promise to go back to defending its civilians. None of this stopped the Detroit News from accusing Israel of “breaking” its ceasefire “vow” to stop bombing for 48 hours - a vow that Israel never made. There’s something humorous about a newspaper lying about the existence of Israeli lies, but frankly this is getting too tiring to be funny…

They really are just that shameless:

Israel breaks vow, airstrikes continue.

As it poured soldiers and artillery shells into southern Lebanon, Israel vowed on Monday to press ahead with its war on Hezbollah and made a number of airstrikes after promising a 48-hour pause in its air campaign. “The fighting continues,” Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said. “There is no cease-fire and there will not be any cease-fire in the coming days.”

This headline, ladies and gentlemen, actually makes the Detroit News more dishonest than Al Jazeera!

But another senior political official said that the suspension of aerial bombardment didn’t include retaliation for any Hezbollah rocket attacks, the assassination of the group’s leaders or assistance to Israeli ground forces in southern Lebanon. The official also said that the cessation could last less than 48 hours if the army concludes its probe into the Qana attack earlier than expected.

The break was so that Israel could take some time and determine what happened in Qana. Now we know that Hezbollah at the very least shares responsibility for this tragedy - somewhere between choreographing its aftermath to outright causing the collapse - there’s no reason to continue the ceasefire. But hey, it’s the anti-Israel press: no reason to let little things like “what the Israelis actually said” get in the way of calling Israelis liars.

[Cross-posted at Mere Rhetoric]