[Peace-discuss] Our news sources…

[Morton K. Brussel]

Just in case you are confused…         In fact, this is all a detail  
to the grander scheme of control of the middle east by the U.S. and  
its proxy Israel.  --mkb


July 25, 2006
Kidnapped in Israel or Captured in Lebanon?
Official justification for Israel's invasion on thin ice
by Joshua Frank
As Lebanon continues to be pounded by Israeli bombs and munitions,  
the justification for Israel's invasion is treading on very thin ice.  
It has become general knowledge that it was Hezbollah guerillas that  
first kidnapped two IDF soldiers inside Israel on July 12, prompting  
an immediate and violent response from the Israeli government, which  
insists it is acting in the interest of national defense. Israeli  
forces have gone on to kill over 370 innocent Lebanese civilians  
(compared to 34 killed on Israel's side) while displacing hundreds of  
thousands more. But numerous reports from international and  
independent media, as well as the Associated Press, raise questions  
about Israel's official version of the events that sparked the  
conflict two weeks ago.

The original story, as most media tell it, goes something like this:  
Hezbollah attacked an Israeli border patrol station, killing six and  
taking two soldiers hostage. The incident happened on the Lebanese/ 
Israel border in Israeli territory. The alternate version, as  
explained by several news outlets, tells a bit of a different tale:  
These sources contend that Israel sent a commando force into southern  
Lebanon and was subsequently attacked by Hezbollah near the village  
of Aitaa al-Chaab, well inside Lebanon's southern territory. It was  
at this point that an Israel tank was struck by Hezbollah fighters,  
which resulted in the capture of two Israeli soldiers and the death  
of six.

As the AFP reported, "According to the Lebanese police force, the two  
Israeli soldiers were captured in Lebanese territory, in the area of  
Aitaa al-Chaab, near to the border with Israel, where an Israeli unit  
had penetrated in middle of morning." And the French news site  
www.VoltaireNet.org reiterated the same account on June 18, "In a  
deliberated way, [Israel] sent a commando in the Lebanese back- 
country to Aitaa al-Chaab. It was attacked by Hezbollah, taking two  
prisoners."

The Associated Press departed from the official version as well. "The  
militant group Hezbollah captured two Israeli soldiers during clashes  
Wednesday across the border in southern Lebanon, prompting a swift  
reaction from Israel, which sent ground forces into its neighbor to  
look for them," reported Joseph Panossian for AP on July 12. "The  
forces were trying to keep the soldiers' captors from moving them  
deeper into Lebanon, Israeli government officials said on condition  
of anonymity."

And the Hindustan Times on July 12 conveyed a similar account:

"The Lebanese Shi'ite Hezbollah movement announced on Wednesday that  
its guerrillas have captured two Israeli soldiers in southern  
Lebanon. 'Implementing our promise to free Arab prisoners in Israeli  
jails, our strugglers have captured two Israeli soldiers in southern  
Lebanon,' a statement by Hezbollah said. 'The two soldiers have  
already been moved to a safe place,' it added. The Lebanese police  
said that the two soldiers were captured as they 'infiltrated' into  
the town of Aitaa al-Chaab inside the Lebanese border."

Whether factual or not, these alternative accounts should at the very  
least raise serious questions as to Israel's motives and rationale  
for bombarding Lebanon.

MSNBC online first reported that Hezbollah had captured Israeli  
soldiers "inside" Lebanon, only to change their story hours later  
after the Israeli government gave an official statement to the contrary.

A report from The National Council of Arab Americans, based in  
Lebanon, also raised suspicion that Israel's official story did not  
hold water and noted that Israel had yet to recover the tank that was  
demolished during the initial attack in question.

"The Israelis so far have not been able to enter Aitaa al-Chaab to  
recover the tank that was exploded by Hezbollah and the bodies of the  
soldiers that were killed in the original operation (this is a main  
indication that the operation did take place on Lebanese soil, not  
that in my opinion it would ever be an illegitimate operation, but  
still the media has been saying that it was inside 'Israel' thus an  
aggression first started by Hezbollah)."

Before independent observers could organize an investigation of the  
incident, Israel had already mounted a grisly offensive against  
Lebanese infrastructure and civilians, bombing Beirut's international  
airport, along with numerous highways and communication portals.  
Israel didn't need the truth of the matter to play out before it  
invaded Lebanon. As with the United States' illegitimate invasion of  
Iraq, Israel just needed the proper media cover to wage a war with no  
genuine moral impetus.
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