August 09, 2006

Hezbollah's propoganda war

As EU Referendum continues it's work exposing how the news has been staged in Lebanon I think I'll stick my oar in. I don't want to talk about the faked smoke as I find the faked missile attack much more interesting. Here it is again if you haven't seen it yet:

What is happening here is that an Israeli F16 has deployed flares and is banking heavily as it's pilot thinks he is under attack. What the caption said was that it was an Israeli F16 after it had just released missiles. This sums up perfectly the propaganda campaign that Hezbollah has been waging so successfully against Israel, with the media's full cooperation.

The image is purely of the Israelis, no context that there might be anything else of of interest about the situation, there is no indication that Hezbollah has done anything at all, it's attack is ignored. Like the missiles that Hezbollah has been firing against Israel for the last 6 years are ignored. Like the fact that Hezbollah deliberately started this conflict by raiding Israel to kidnapping Israeli soldiers. An act it knew would provoke a serious response having seen the government of Palestine use exactly the same tactic, and get the same response, the previous month. The Israeli jet is firing flares (not missiles), a defensive maneuver, but this is transformed into an aggressive one. Like how Israel after being attacked is using the provocation to finally hit back in an attempt to defend it's citizens from yet more years of indiscriminate bombardment from Hezbollah. But a more nuanced approach would wreak the 'David vs. Goliath' story that they are trying to build, a tale of a sassy underdog and a powerful aggressor being much easier to sell. Even if it has little to do with the truth.

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