The village of Maroun al-Ras was the scene of widespread violence on 15 May when up to 10 demonstrators were shot dead as they rallied near the fence that separates Lebanon and Israel. Up to 1,000 demonstrators arrived at the area in buses to mark "Nakba day", the Palestinian name for the day Israel was formed in 1948.Why has the media been so reluctant to report on the theatre behind these demonstrations, and the incentive given by Arab leaders to injure or kill demonstrators that they hand-picked? Today's Syrian border demonstration was broadcast, live, on multiple Israeli TV channels, and the inflated and fake casualties were obvious to all - except, apparently, every single non-Israeli reporter in the area.
One demonstrator who was wounded that day told the Guardian the Lebanese militia Hezbollah had given him $50 to turn up at the border and $900 to have his gunshot wounds treated by physicians. He said he had been planning to return to Maroun al-Ras yesterday until the rally was cancelled.
(h/t Yerushalimey)