the fourth place

I've just finished reading a report put together by the EU Referendum blog regarding the staging and acting going on in Qana the morning after the airstrike.

I find it frankly appalling that this has not yet garnered mainstream news coverage, its certainly a significant failing by the press and surely at least one mainstream outlet is not so deeply involved that it can't run an expose? Or is it that rocking the boat isn't in thier own best interest?

The mainstream media, including right-wing Telegraph but also left-wing Independant carried the photos, but I'm particularly appalled by the Independant front page covering Qana which asked without a trace of irony How can we stand by and allow this to go on?. It's an important argument and one prone to repetition, so lets break it down a bit.

The Indy are claiming that due to the obvious harm done in Qana Israel should be, or should have been, stopped. It invites us to reflect on the emotional image and ask ourselves how we tolerate such tragedy. With me? OK.

Kids died in Qana and the photos all over the report show very real very dead bodies who can only have died in fear and in pain, but we cannot with any credibility look at these photos, and the Indy front page in particular, and forget that the people in them are acting. The people there are abusing the corpses of children and adults with equal disregard. No emmotional appeal based on these images can ever be taken seriously.

This leaves us with the harsh objective reality that Hizbollah caused an Israeli airstrike and that people died horribly as a result. I think people tend to accept, thankfully, that Israel had to stop missile launches and that collateral damage, while tragic, is not morally equivalent to the acts of murder Israel is otherwise accused of. Therefore, when it comes to collateral deaths, blame for endangering life in the first place most properly and most heaviliy falls on Hizbollah.

But I'm blasted in the comments with accusations that Hizbollah were not there, and until now I have had seen no evidence that they were there, other than the assuption that there would have been no airstrike if they were not. The guys at the EU Referendum blog seem to think that the connection between Qanagate and Hizbollah is obvious, because who else would be capable of arranging such a stage show? They don't say this anywhere, but that was my impression, and if Hizbollah arranged the show then they must have been in the area so this is if - I'm prepared to beleive it - evidence for my point of view on Qana.

The thing is that actually I'm more prepared to beleive that there are enough crazy attention seeking people and greedy journalists in this world for Qanagate to have been spontaneous, but EU Referendum do point out that the area around Qana was a hotbead for missile launches and is a known Hizbollah stronghold. I can't comment on that, but they provide one more thing, and that is pictures of Hizbollah paraphernalia in the home of one of the actors. This, combined with the open claims that Hizbollah died in Qana with the other victims is enough for me to feel that I know the truth of what happened there in that icon of the war that it became.

I beleive that Hizbollah invited hell upon the people they are alleged to be protecting as a resistance movement. That while the children in that cellar died a Hizbollah supporters comfortable home went undamged and then when the media arrived he cynically went out and abused the corpses of children to make the war against them stop. The worst part is that the majority of news organisations have ignored this version of the story to protect their own interests and have kept the public from knowing the full situation. With a weak reactionary Government in power here, that greed endangers lives.

I don't especially like Jews or Israelis, so please no accusations of being brainwashed by Israelis or being pro-Israel. I don't actually know any Jews and have never worked for Jews, not that it would make much difference. On the other hand my own circle takes in a large number of Muslims some of which I do work closely with and all of which I would consider friends, or closer than friends. Yet I cannot agree with the view that Hizbollah are the good guys, to me they are evil people who prevent peace adn put me and my friends in danger for the sake of their own grip on power.