Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Thursday, August 05, 2010

Reuters had 5 photographers plus stringers to cover a tree being cut

Backspin, the Honest Reporting blog, notices the amazing fact that Reuters had no fewer than five photographers and some unidentified stringers covering Tuesday's events. After examining the 25 photos that Reuters had of the incident, including graphic images, they ask:

1. How were five photographers encouraged to cover routine IDF maintenance work -- which is simply non-news? Who tipped them off, and why?

2. How did Reuters photographers get such wide, unrestricted access to the combat zone?

3. Who are the unidentified stringers? Do they, or any of the five identified photographers, have any conflicts of interest requiring disclosure, in the interests of ethical journalism? Why did Reuters break with journalistic norms and not credit seven images with the photographer's name?

4. Is it fair to say that the Lebanese source who tipped off journalists to be in the Adaisseh area of the border bears responibility for the death of Assaf Abu Rahhal?

5. Did any higher ups in the Reuters chain of command raise any questions?

Remember, these are just the photographers - Backspin isn't even counting any other Reuters journalists who might have been there.

Suzanne and others had noticed the fact that so many journalists were at the scene ahead of time, but Reuters' coverage is so over the top that it merits serious scrutiny as to whether its Lebanese journalists are also associated with the LAF - or Hezbollah.

IDF releases timeline of events. Juan Cole praises Lebanese murderer.

A senior IDF source provides us (via email) with a background and narrative of the events of Tuesday that was given at a briefing earlier Wednesday.

Hezbollah’s Influence on the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF)

· Since mid-2007, there has been an increased in activity of Global Jihad in the area of Southern Lebanon.

· Recently, we have seen more incidence of violence by Hezbollah directed against UNIFIL’s peacekeeping force.

· LAF brigades in the past were often majority Christian soldiers. ≈ this has changed. The LAF policy now dictates that different brigades will rotate responsibility for the area, and this includes brigades with varying ethno-religious composition.

· There are now a number of brigades of Shiite commanders in charge of forces in the border area. It is likely, given where these soldiers are from – that many of them have relatives who are Hezbollah activists or supporters.

· There has been increasing influence of Hezbollah upon LAF forces, and growth in this has been seen in recent years, as more violations of Res. 1701 have occurred by the Lebanese Armed Forces.

Provocation, Intimidation & Tension in Recent Months:

· Over the past three months, the Central and Eastern Brigades of the LAF have acted with increasing aggression towards Israeli forces stationed along the border. IDF forces have been threatened verbally, as well as with physical gestures by Lebanese troops, aimed at escalating tension in this already sensitive border area. Certain LAF companies have in fact made threats and sought to provoke the IDF through threatening gestures with heavy weaponry, including machine guns and RPGs.

· Israel has informed the UNIFIL Liaison of the LAF’s demonstrations of aggression and attempts to enflame the situation, and has expressed the IDF’s concerns that such behaviour could spark a deterioration into violent confrontation – something which the Israeli side wishes only to prevent.

· Nevertheless, such provocative behaviour has taken place so often that it has in fact become a regular dangerous routine. This behaviour, over a number of months, laid the framework for the tragically violent incident that took place on Tuesday.

* The LAF is the sovereign army of Lebanon, and receives its orders through a standard military central command structure, in coordination with the Lebanese government in Beirut.

· Tuesday’s tragic events did not take place out of the blue. The increasingly risk-prone aggression and provocation by Lebanese forces over the past three months demonstrated clearly – both at the time and now with the benefit of hindsight – the intention for violence by the Lebanese forces.

The Incident:

· Tuesday began with plans by the IDF, coordinated in extreme detail with the UNIFIL Liaison Officer, to carry out a routine pruning of shrubbery near the fence which lies at a distance of 200-300 metres behind the “Blue Line” internationally recognised border between Israel and Lebanon.

· Such maintenance work is of absolute necessity for the safety and security of not just the Israeli military, but rather also the civilian residential areas and agricultural areas, which lie in, close proximity to the border area. It should be noted that Hezbollah forces using similar shrub growth as cover after illegally infiltrating Israeli territory facilitated the kidnapping of two IDF soldiers during the 2006 Lebanon War.

· Despite Israel’s absolute right to maintain this border area, which lies in undisputed Israeli territory, the IDF coordinates all such activities with the UNIFIL Liaison Officer, and often makes changes to its own plans due to UNIFIL’s concerns.

· In order to prevent any misunderstanding, prior to Tuesday’s planned maintenance work the Israeli officer in charge personally patrolled the relevant area together with the UNIFIL Liaison Officer to demonstrate, in an explicit and specific manner, which trees and shrubbery the IDF intended to work on. All such plans were approved by UNIFIL before any activities by the IDF took place.

· On Tuesday morning, the planned commencement of the maintenance work at 08:30am was postponed by a number of hours as per a request by UNIFIL. When the later time already agreed upon had come, UNIFIL once again requested that the IDF delay such activities a number of additional minutes, and the IDF further complied.

· Subsequently, the IDF sent crane equipment down to the site, in order to demonstrate exactly what activities it planned to carry out.

· At this point, the Lebanese Armed Forces opened fire with snipers towards Israel. It must be noted, however, that such fire was not aimed at the soldiers located by the fence, but rather directly aimed at IDF officers who were standing in a separate area, on higher ground. These officers were wearing helmets and flack jackets. The officer who was killed by this fire was shot in the head, despite the armour he was wearing. This demonstrates the premeditated, planned and deliberate nature of the Lebanese attack.

· Following the Israeli forces’ coming under unprovoked attack by the LAF, the IDF opened fire against the specific parts of LAF forces who had fired against Israel. The IDF made a clear distinction between such LAF forces, and any UNIFIL personnel or civilians that may have been in the area, thus compromising Israel’s capabilities out of genuine concern to prevent any innocent casualties.

· The Lebanese Army cynically manipulated Israel’s goodwill in coordinating all activities with UNIFIL observers, as well as Israel’s ongoing desire to avoid any deterioration into violent confrontation with our neighbours.

Juan Cole, furiously spinning the Lebanon border incident, reveals not only his (purposeful) ignorance of the sequence of events, but also that he revels in the death of any Israeli:

One surprising thing is that the Lebanese army showed such spunk in the face of the perceived Israeli affront. They know very well that they are vastly outgunned, and of course the Israeli military hit them with fire from helicopter gunships and artillery pieces. What made them so bold, that they shot and killed an Israeli officer over the tree removal?

Wow, isn't a pre-meditated and unprovoked sniping of Israeli officers standing in the open a couple of hundred yards away, "bold" and "spunky"?

(h/t Dan)

Evening open thread

Administrivia:

After the novelty wore off, my big experiment in advertising is netting me about ten cents a day. Woo-hoo!

My Gaza Mall video (both versions combined) are now past 65,000 YouTube views.

The Invest in Gaza video, after a disappointing start, seems to have caught on - mostly in Germany - and now has over 3700 views.

On the same topic, don't forget my older video, Save the Gazans. That was made 19 months before the current fashion of the media to admit that Gaza isn't quite starving.

I'm overdue for an open thread....

Reuters notices Gaza has water parks too

I missed this story from Monday, where Reuters - just like Sky News - suddenly discovers that there seems to be a middle class in Gaza, that has money to spend.

The most astonishing thing about this story, by Nidal al-Mughrabi, is that is doesn't try to find a way to make this look like an Israeli crime.

This might be the reason why it is not easy to find any newspaper website that has published this article.

New leisure projects and restaurants have been springing up in the Gaza Strip, some partially funded by Hamas Islamists ruling a territory long seen as a symbol of Palestinian hardship.

The construction boom in recreational facilities has prompted some Palestinians in the enclave to complain that Hamas should have channeled such investment into rebuilding homes and infrastructure destroyed in conflict with Israel.

Some 800 visitors a day flock to Al-Bustan, a resort built by a Hamas-linked charity, to enjoy its swimming pools, restaurants and cafes.

In keeping with strict Muslim tradition, women are veiled and non-Islamic songs are not on the playlist of music blaring from loudspeakers.

"The atmosphere is Islamic. It's a place where you feel relaxed," said Umm Gaafar, wearing head-to-toe black garb and a veil.

It's a different scene at Crazy Water Park.

Secular music echoes across its three swimming pools and men and women smoke water pipes around tables placed under umbrellas made of palm branches.

With Gaza unemployment estimated by the United Nations at more than 40 percent [actually 34% - EoZ], and by local economists at 60 percent, most of the crowd at Crazy Water are relatively well-paid professionals and employees of foreign aid organizations.

Bissan City, a former garbage dump on land owned by the Hamas-run Interior Ministry, has been turned into a 46-acre (19 hectare) zoo, a large entertainment park for children and gardens.

Hamas has not disclosed the scope of its investment in numerous projects in the Gaza Strip and the government in the territory has not released a budget. Hamas receives money from some Islamic and Arab allies, especially Qatar and Iran.

At a recently inaugurated Gaza shopping mall, the enclave's first such project, stores are filled with clothing, shoes and other consumer goods. Supermarket shelves in the mall are packed with Egyptian and Israeli merchandise.

Of course, it would be too much to ask for Reuters to point out that Gazans, including the adults with their water pipes poolside at the water park, are the biggest per-capita recipients of humanitarian aid in the world.

The utter inability to tell the truth

I've been looking at the Lebanese coverage of yesterday's events. Even though the facts are plain and obvious, the Lebanese media - across the board - is standing by the absurd story that Israel went into Lebanese territory and the LAF was defending their country.

The anti-Hezbollah March 14th coalition declared that this proves that the LAF can defend their country, and (by implication) it doesn't need Hezbollah.

The Lebanese Army warned Israel that they will do it again in the face of any Israeli "aggression."

Pan-Arab daily Dar al-Hayat said that it is likely that Israel wanted to test Lebanese reaction (by deciding to cut down trees on the Israeli side and giving them two weeks' notice, I suppose.)

No one is mentioning that, you know, Lebanon shot first at Israelis over the border who were doing nothing remotely wrong.

The lies do not end at this incident, of course. Ya Libnan starts off a "news" story this way:

Israel which received over $1.6 Trillion from the US since 1973 is now blaming U.S., France for arming Lebanon.

Say what? $1.6 trillion? That means that every Israeli household has received a million dollars from the US!

Well, it seems that Ya Libnan published an article about this claim just last week, from some blog by someone purported to be a CIA operations officer.

Although he doesn't cite the source, the figure comes from an absurd Christian Science Monitor article from 2002, where Israel is blamed by an analyst and "friend of OPEC" for the cost to the US economy of the Arab oil boycott, among other things.

Yes, the Arabs attacked Israel and initiated an oil boycott against the US, and Israel is blamed for their actions.

Although that author died in 2005, others have used his ridiculous methods to inflate Israel's supposed cost to the US to as much as $3 trillion, by considering the entire cost of the Afghanistan and Iraq wars as being aid to Israel as well.

Ya Libnan, with its journalistic skill, takes a ridiculous blog post, publishes it as fact, and then a week later extends it to translate "cost to US" to "aid to Israel."

Which just goes to show that no lie is too big to be published by the Arab media when it comes to Israel.

UPDATE: Since I queued up this post this morning, Lebanon's Naharnet has reported that UNIFIL declared the tree was on the Israeli side.

But now Lebanon is backpedaling, saying that while they admit it was on the Israeli side of the Blue Line, that is still Lebanese territory:

Lebanese Information Minister Tareq Mitri insisted the trees were in Lebanese territory.

"Lebanon has always expressed its respect for the Blue Line but always affirmed that the Blue Line is not the international border and there are areas south of the Blue Line that are Lebanese territory," Mitri told journalists in Beirut.

"The trees ... were south of the Blue Line but in Lebanese territory," he added.

Which means that if we are to believe him, the supposed Lebanese "respect" for the Blue Line is nonexistent if they are willing to shoot people on the other side.

Hot, unveiled women for Hezbollah

AP publishes a number of photos from Hezbollah's rally yesterday, apparently celebrating the fourth anniversary of their role in destroying southern Lebanon:

A Hezbollah supporter holds a poster of Hezbollah leader Sheik Hassan Nasrallah during a rally marking the fourth anniversary of the 2006 Israel-Hezbollah war, in Beirut's southern suburb, Tuesday, Aug. 3, 2010.

A Hezbollah supporter, holds a poster of Hezbollah leader Sheik Hassan Nasrallahduring a rally marking the fourth anniversary of the 2006 Israel-Hezbollah war, in Beirut's southern suburb, Tuesday, Aug. 3, 2010. Nasrallah praised the army for their "heroic" stand against Israel on Tuesday. He warned in a televised speech to thousands of supporters south of Beirut that his fighters would intervene if Israeli troops ever attack Lebanese forces again.

Why are unveiled women so prominent at Hezbollah rallies?

An interesting 2008 story from Now Lebanon might help explain this phenomenon:

In its first issue of 2007, the Lebanese weekly current affairs magazine Ash-Shiraa, in a story on the newly-initiated downtown sit-in that would eventually last for over 18 months, published a statistic showing that that while Hezbollah paid veiled – or muhajjabat –supporters $15 per day for attending the demonstration, those who agreed to go unveiled were paid a little over $33 or 50,000 LL.

Dr. Hilal Khashan, professor of political studies at the American University of Beirut (AUB), suspected that this unique privileging of unveiled women by a party that encourages the wearing of the hijab among its women followers was because it “wanted [them] to look like Christians.” The appearance of unveiled women would have helped make the protest look like a national movement rather than a sectarian one.

(h/t Snapped Shot via tweet)

PA condemns attack on Aqaba - silent on attack on Eilat

Palestine Press Agency reports that the PA issued a statement condemning Monday's rocket attack - but only the rockets that hit Jordan:

The official spokesman said the Palestinian National Authority strongly condemned the terrorist act on Jordan which was aimed at undermining security and stability in the region.

The National Authority is in full solidarity with our sister the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan and the Government and people, which supports the steadfastness of the Palestinian people over their national soil with their national rights and to establish their independent state with Jerusalem as its capital.

The National Authority stresses that those who carried out this criminal act serve only the interests of hostile forces, targeting issues of the Arab nation and particularly the Palestinian issue, and call to confront the perpetrators and defeat and expose those who were behind were the owners of agendas and ambitions of the regional targeting of Arab States and the future of our nation.

While it is possible that Aqaba was a target as well, it seems probable that Israel was the intended target for all the rockets - yet the PA has no problem with that.

Hamas still blames Israel for Monday's "work accident"

Usually, Hamas admits its work accidents a day or two after they occur, putting out vague press releases about how a brave mujahadeen was martyred while doing a glorious task of Jihad.

Monday's massive explosion in Deir al Balah is different. Possibly because (contrary to an initial report) no one was killed, and possibly because of the large number of injuries, Hamas is still blaming Israel for the blast, against all evidence and common sense. From the Al Qassam English webpage:

In the recent period in Gaza Strip, the Zionist entity attempts to create a state of confusion through satanic plans.

The last attack, which took place in Deir al-Balah camp in the Central Area of Gaza strip at dawn on Monday, 02/08/2010, came in the same context.

We confirm that what happened is a cowardly and planned work, and it is a result of a Zionist security action. The attack aims to assassinate field commanders of Al Qassam Brigades.

It should be noted that this ground targeting comes in the context of a series of Zionist barbarism against our members and other resistance factions' members through variety methods.

Finally, these cowardly actions are exposed to us and the Zionist entity bears all the consequences of its stupidity against the Palestinian people.

The PCHR is not buying this story:

The Palestinian Center for Human Rights (PCHR) calls upon the government in the Gaza Strip to investigate the circumstances of an explosion that occurred in Deir al-Balah refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip, which left 58 injuries, including 13 children and 9 women, 7 houses uninhabitable and 30 others damaged. PCHR calls further for publishing the results of such investigations.

According to investigations conducted by PCHR, and testimonies of eyewitnesses, at approximately 01:20 on Monday, 02 August 2010, a heavy explosion rocked Deir al-Balah refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip. The explosion occurred in a 100-square-meter, uninhabited house. As a result of the explosion, 58 Palestinians living in the surroundings, including 13 children and 9 women, were injured, and a pregnant woman miscarried.

Additionally, 7 houses were destroyed and rendered uninhabitable, and another 30 ones were damaged. According to eyewitnesses, a red glow came from the house before an explosion rocked the area. After the explosion, activists of the Palestinian resistance arrived in the area and surrounded the affected house. The Palestinian police also arrived in the area and prevented people from reaching the house. Resistance activists collected from the house shrapnel of the explosive devices and transported them in a car.

The 'Izziddin al-Qassam Brigades (the armed wing of Hamas) issued a press release on Tuesday morning, 03 August 2010, stating that: "We confirm that what happened… resulted from a Zionist security operation intended to assassinate field leaders in the 'Izziddin al-Qassam Brigades." It further stated that "such ground targeting is part of Zionist operations."

In light of information available to PCHR through field investigations, and according to testimonies of eyewitnesses that saw transportation of bombs from the house, there are reasons to suspect that the explosion was coming from inside the house and occurred for no apparent reason, similar to some incidents in the past. Internal explosion occurred in the past in houses amidst densely populated areas, because of mistakes in manufacturing, bad storage of bombs or other reasons, which caused many fatalities among civilians and destroyed houses.

Once again Hamas is shown to be lying. Why the media still report Hamas statements as if they have any credibility is a basic question that every editor needs to answer.

Egypt blames Palestinian Arabs from Gaza for rocket attack on Eilat

From YNet:

[On] Wednesday, Egyptian security sources confirmed the rockets were fired from the Sinai Peninsula and claimed that armed Palestinians from Gaza were responsible.

"Armed Palestinians from Gaza were responsible for the firing of rockets," an Egyptian security source claimed, adding that the rockets were launched from the Sinai Peninsula.

Egypt's official news agency MENA agreed with this assessment: "The preliminary information that the security has received indicates that Palestinian factions from the Gaza Strip are behind that operation," the state news agency quoted an unnamed security source as saying.

And since no one travels between Gaza and the Sinai without Hamas' approval.....

US pushing to admit "Palestine" to WTO

Palestine Press Agency reports that the US has agreed to help facilitate the admittance of "Palestine" to the World Trade Organization.

The Consulate of the United States in Jerusalem has informed both the PA Ministries of National Economy and Foreign Affairs of U.S. support Palestine's request to join the World Trade Organization as an observer, following a number of meetings and deliberations between the National Economy Ministry and the Mission of the United States in the WTO in Geneva during the past few months.

I couldn't find any articles in English about this, although the PA/PLO has been pushing to join the WTO for years so the story is very plausible.

Shouldn't this move on the part of the US be a bit more transparent?

Report: Iranian drone crashes near Bushehr nuke plant

Asharq al-Awsat says that there are reports of an Iranian-made drone crashing near the Bushehr nuclear plant, causing panic among the residents of the area who are already afraid of a US or Israeli attack on the plant.

The incident occurred last Sunday.

Iran started manufacturing their own drones last year, which they claim have a range of 1000 km, can evade radar and which can drop a payload.

Complete, detailed narrative of Lebanese border incident

This article, from an unexpected source, seems to be by far the most comprehensive one about the incident - and (assuming it is accurate) it answers some questions about the timing in the video:

On Thursday, July 29, 2010, Israel notified UNIFIL that a few Israeli soldiers would be crossing the security fence in order to cut a tree and remove a few shrubs in Israeli territory but near the Blue Line (the actual border between Israel and Lebanon). This foliage blocks the view of Israeli security cameras positioned deep inside Israel. Israel also notified UNIFIL that these soldiers would be escorted by a small patrol which would stay south of the security fence.

The Israeli notification was in accordance with UNSC resolution 1701. UNIFIL then informed the nearby positions of the Lebanese Armed Forces about the planned Israeli activities in order to ensure that there was no misunderstanding. The Lebanese Army notified the local HizbAllah force.

Significantly, the Lebanese Army unit deployed along the border with Israel is the 9th Division, whose commanders and troops are Shi’ites and recruited from the same manpower pool as the HizbAllah.

Around 10:30am on August 3, 2010, about 10 Israeli soldiers with saws crossed the gate in the security fence on foot. This detachment was covered by an Israeli patrol which included a few tanks, armored vehicles, and a command vehicle. As UNIFIL had been informed, the patrol stayed 200-300 meters south of the fence.

When the soldiers approached the tree, they were attacked by small arms automatic fire from both the Lebanese Army’s position just across the border and “civilians” (HizbAllah fighters) in the nearby village of Adissyeh.

Immediately, a few Israeli commanders ran from the command vehicle toward the fence to see what was happening. Snipers hiding in the bush adjacent to the Lebanese Army position fired on them, killing the Israeli battalion commander (a lieutenant-colonel) and critically wounding the company commander (a captain). The sniper fire came from a professional ambush that had been organized on the basis of the advance warning provided by UNIFIL.

Meanwhile, the shooting at the Israeli soldiers north of the fence intensified. Israeli forces opened small-arms and mortar fire on the sources of fire in the Lebanese Army position and in a couple of unfinished houses in Adissyeh. Two Israeli tanks and an armored personnel carrier moved forward toward the fence in order to evacuate the stranded soldiers. At this point a UNIFIL patrol arrived on the scene and the UN officers urged both sides to ceasefire. The firing stopped a few minutes later.

Escorted by the UN patrol, the two Israeli tanks and the armored personnel carrier continued to advance toward the gate in the fence in order to evacuate the soldiers. Suddenly an anti-tank missile was fired from either the Lebanese Army position or the bush immediately near it. The missile barely missed the UNIFIL vehicle and the tanks. The Israeli tanks opened fire on the missile launcher.

Major activity followed. Intense fire — small arms, heavy machineguns, mortars, and RPGs — was opened from both several Lebanese Army positions as well as HizbAllah positions in Adissyeh. Israel rushed additional tanks and artillery to the area and started bombarding all Lebanese positions. One or two Katyusha rockets were launched toward Israel, impacted in open space and caused no damage.

A pair of Israeli combat helicopters arrived on the scene. They attacked the main Lebanese Army position near Adissyeh, and subsequently the Lebanese Army battalion headquarters in the village of Al-Taybeh. The helicopters also attacked and destroyed several Lebanese Army armored vehicles which were parked near the headquarters. Three Lebanese soldiers and a journalist (from the pro-HizbAllah newspaper Al-Akhbar) who was with the troops in Al-Taybeh were killed. Another soldier was killed in the position near Adissyeh. A total of five to six soldiers were wounded. There is no reliable information about HizbAllah casualties.

The fire subsided after little over two and a half hours.

I don't understand why UNIFIL wasn't on the scene initially, since the tree-cutting was known in advance, but perhaps they were observing the Israeli actions from another vantage point.

Journalists not as anti-Israel this time around

Since yesterday, Lebanon has admitted that it fired at Israel first and now is only making the easy-to-refute claim that IDF soldiers were in Lebanese territory.

As a result, the media has come around to being much more fair (although I have yet to read a MSM article that shows the road in the picture of the Israeli cherry picker is the same one that can be seen to be quite a distance from the Blue Line.)

Reuters published a surprisingly (for them) sympathetic piece, which begins this way:

Blood-stains mark the rocky ground by the entrance to a camouflaged army bunker where the Israeli military says one of its colonels was killed by a Lebanese army sniper team on Tuesday.

"There were only two or three shots," said an Israeli military spokeswoman. "They were standing there, where the blood is."

The battalion commander was hit in the head and a fellow officer struck in the chest and gravely wounded from a range of about 700 meters, she told Reuters at the scene of the brief battle.

Israeli artillery fire, launched in retaliation at a Lebanese army post, left scorched hillsides on the Lebanese side of the steep valley that divides them.

I cannot remember the last time a Reuters piece about any Israeli conflict started off with anything from Israel's perspective.

The Guardian started, as usual, with the Lebanese statement, but at least gave the IDF as much space in its response:

Yesterday's clash broke out after the Israeli army cut down a tree on the border.

The Lebanese army admitted that its soldiers opened fire on IDF troops in the confrontation, the most serious along the border since the war between Israel and the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah four years ago.

In a statement issued to the news agency AFP, a spokesman said: "The Lebanese army opened fire first at Israeli soldiers who entered Lebanese territory ... This constituted defence of our sovereignty and is an absolute right."

Israel continued to insist that its forces did not cross the Blue Line, the UN name for the border. It says an IDF unit was carrying out routine maintenance work to remove a tree obscuring its sight lines into Lebanon – but from Israeli territory – when the firing began.

Unifil, the UN force that monitors the border, today said the tree was in Israeli territory.

An Israeli battalion commander was shot dead, and another officer seriously wounded. In Israeli shelling which followed, three Lebanese soldiers and a Lebanese journalist were killed.

The IDF claimed that its forces were the subject of a planned ambush, citing the presence of Lebanese media close to the border. "We have reason to believe this was planned in advance," IDF spokeswoman Avital Liebovich said. She added that the initiative could have come from Lebanese army units under the influence of Hezbollah.

Certainly better than usual.

Of course, Lebanon's finally admitting that it fired at the IDF first does make it hard to spin this as Israeli aggression, so in this case the usual meme just couldn't be shoe-horned into the MSM narrative. Now, if only the media would figure out that Israel's record of telling the truth from the outset is far better that that of her enemies.....

And some "journalists" will never change.
(h/t v1)

8 reasons leftists should be pro-Israel (HuffPo)

Excerpts of an article by Alan Krinsky:

If my fellow Leftists or even Liberals think that the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions movement will help bring an end to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, as well as peace to the Middle East and harmony to the community of nations, they are sadly mistaken. There is a difference betweencriticism and demonization, and the campaign against Israel is of the latter type. Criticism, and there is much of it within Israel's own healthy democracy, can result in positive change. But the focused attempt to demonize Israel, not undertaken against any other nation, is aimed at delegitimizing Israel and undermining its very existence, as if the problems of the world were the fault of the Israelis -- the fault of the Jews -- and if they would only go away, all would be better.

Not only is this a sorry illusion, but this concerted assault on Israel itself betrays the principles of the Left.

Here, then, are 8 reasons Leftists should be Pro-Israel (or, at least, Pro-Peace rather than Anti-Israel):

1. Human Rights. The Left fights for human rights in the world. Even if one thinks Israel or its soldiers guilty of human rights violations (and I am not willing at the outset to grant this point), there is no international or historical comparison that could reasonably rank Israel among the worst criminals of the world or of history....If we support human rights and oppose persecution, ought we not first to focus our efforts on the places where we find the worst situations?

2. Internationalism. Leftists tend to support internationalism. One would think that the United Nations would be the world body most dedicated to furthering this aim. But how is it that Israel, this small nation, has become such a central concern? From 2003-2010, there have been more than 900 human rights actions against Israel at the U.N.; the next closest is Sudan at just under 400. Israel is the only member of the U.N. to be excluded from any of the five regional groups. And should not all on the Left oppose the absurdity of the so-called Human Rights Council, whose members include such paragons of humanitarianism as China, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, and Kyrgyzstan?

3. Peace. Leftists want peace. In the Middle East and elsewhere. The polls make clear that, overwhelmingly, Israelis desire peace with their neighbors; the difficult sacrifices, including the unilateral withdrawal from Gaza make this evident. Israelis are prepared for a secure, two-state solution, to live side-by-side in peace. Meanwhile, the stated goal of its enemies is to end its existence. A simple thought-experiment should make the matter starkly clear: If tomorrow Hamas and other Palestinian groups unilaterally put down their weapons, what would follow? Peace. If Israelis unilaterally put down their weapons, what would follow? Millions of dead or exiled Jews.Anyone on the Left who does not recognize this is living in denial.

Read the whole thing.

More on UNIFIL's deployment

In my last post I mentioned the Indonesian background of the UNIFIL soldiers who were apparently present when the clash on the border happened between Lebanon - Israel happened. There was some confusion about which country controlled which area. I found a recent map of UNIFIL's deployment in the area. The kibbutz Misgav Am and the village Aadaisse are being mentioned on this map: