On one point, the United States agrees with Hezbollah's No. 2 leader, Naim Qassem, and not such allies as Britain.This article was published yesterday morning. It is an explicit refutation of Great Britain's decision in March to talk "only" with Hezbollah's "political wing."
Neither Qassem nor Washington distinguish between the Shiite militant group's political wing, which has members serving in the Lebanese Cabinet and parliament, and its military wing, preparing for the next round of battle against Israel. "Hezbollah has a single leadership," said the 57-year-old cleric in a rare interview with an American reporter recently.
"All political, social and jihad work is tied to the decisions of this leadership," he said. "The same leadership that directs the parliamentary and government work also leads jihad actions in the struggle against Israel."
Yet the story has not been picked up by any British media. So far it has only been reported in Israel, Iran and peripherally in the UAE.
And Ha'aretz reports on the interview - yet ignores this statement about Hezbollah's leadership, which led the story in the LAT!
Given what Great Britain did and what Europe is doing in legitimizing Hezbollah, isn't this kind of important? Wouldn't a responsible Western press pick up on something like this? It isn't as if the LA Times is a tiny newspaper. The story's been out for more than a day.
The media silence is perhaps more troubling than the story itself.