Five people lost their lives in the Lebanese attack, one Israeli officer, three Lebanese soldiers and a reporter from a Hezbollah-run Lebanese newspaper.
Most of the mainstream media used Reuters and AP reports which falsely said that Israel was on the border or on the Lebanese side. Additionally the reports were written in a way to give the impression that Israel was the aggressor.
Reuters labeled the above picture as (emphasis mine):
An Israeli soldier is seen on a crane on the Lebanese side of the Lebanese-Israeli border near Adaisseh village, southern Lebanon August 3, 2010. Israeli artillery shelled the Lebanese village on Tuesday, wounding two people, after Lebanese Army troops fired warning shots at Israeli soldiers.
Forget the fact for a minute that if Reuters didn’t bother to check which side of the border Israel was on, or that the tree-trimming operation was coordinated with the UNIFIL “peace keepers,” but warning shots? Warning shots don’t kill people. The Lebanese bullets killed Israeli officer Lt. Col., Dov Harari, who was not near the fence but was monitoring the tree cutting operations from a distance.
The AP also told a fictional version of the story:
The violence apparently erupted over a move by Israeli soldiers to cut down a tree along the border, a sign of the high level of tensions at the frontier where Israel fought in 2006 with the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah….There was no sign of any extensive Israeli preparations for a large-scale operation — an early indication the clash might not trigger a wider conflict.
No mention of the coordination with UNIFIL. In fact one of the pictures the Associated Press published showed UNIFIL troops waiving to the Israelis working on the trees:
In a radio interview today, UNIFIL Spokesman Milos Struger confirms that the wire service stories were wrong. He said that the IDF had coordinated with UNIFIL in advance of the tree cutting operation and that the IDF was below the Blue Line, and within Israeli territory.
Golan Yochpaz, Israel Army Radio broadcaster, interviews Milos Struger, a Senior Political Advisor to the Commander of UNIFIL Forces along the Israeli-Lebanese border.
Yochpaz: “Those in charge of keeping the peace in the tense region on the border between Israel and Lebanon are UNIFIL soldiers, who were witnesses to the incident between two sides yesterday. The Hungarian diplomat Milos Struger who is used as a political advisor for the commander of the UNIFIL forces in the area, and is located with the UN forces there. A few hours ago we spoke to him over the phone and spoke about what appeared to be a planned deadly ambush by the LAF against the IDF. Struger clarifies that the IDF operated accordingly, and notified us accordingly about their intent to work to clear the region. It is not clear to us how such a routine activity, which occurs almost daily, ended with casualties to both sides.”
Struger: “IDF informed UNIFIL that they are going to do some work cutting the tree from the other side north of the technical fence but south of the blue line. The situation on the ground quickly became tense because the LAF also deployed their forces on the ground. We also had our own people who were trying to diffuse this tension.”
Yochpaz: “We now ask from Struger according to his facts, where exactly did the IDF work on the trees in relation to the boundaries on the map.”
Struger: “It was in the area of al Adessa just north of Misgad Am. Tomorrow we will have a technical team to exactly establish the location in relation to the blue line.”
“I can confirm that we received notification from the IDF early in the morning about this work, and we conveyed this to Lebanese army. Our investigation has been launched today…”
Yochpaz: (translating Struger from English to Hebrew for his audience) “We asked him if the IDF coordinated the activity with the LAF through UNIFIL and he confirms the statement, saying it was coordinated. We received the message in the morning and gave to the Lebanese army, meaning the Lebanese army knew about the event. Our investigation is not yet complete and I am waiting for final report that we will be released today. After UNIFIL workers will meet with Lebanese Army representatives and Israeli army representatives and present their findings. In Israel we know about a string of provocations and baiting that have occurred recently against IDF soldiers. How does UNIFIL intend to act in regards to this issue? We now ask the Hungarian diplomat [Struger].”
Struger: “Daily basis we are dealing with all the different situations. Sometimes there are incidents and we manage to resolve the potential danger.”
Yochpaz translates Struger’s comments and adds: “This is the most serious incident to occur along the Lebanese border since 2006.”
As usual AP and Reuters published the anti-Israel accounts without asking any questions, or making any attempt to seek the truth. Much to their dismay, this is one of the rare cases where the United Nations actually backs up Israel’s story. The wire services could have asked UNIFIL some questions before writing their reports, but that is not their modus operandi. This time however, Associated Press and Reuters have gotten caught with their bias showing.
COMMENTS
Please let us know if you're having issues with commenting.