ISRAEL AND ITS CRITICS

This New York Times article by Greg Myre Offering Video, Israel Answers Critics on War confirms that Israel has all the evidence necessary to prove what it was saying all along during the July/August war with Hizbullah; that the terrorist organisation "systematically fired from civilian neighborhoods in southern Lebanon and took cover in those areas to shield itself from attack."

Clearly, one would now expect the story to be picked up by the local media here in Australia, particularly by the Melbourne Age which did such a marvellous hatchet job on the Israelis through its on-the-spot reporter Ed O'Loughlin who heard no evil, saw no evil and spoke no evil about the Hizbullah fighters.

Here's an excerpt from Myre's article:-

"Elias Hanna, a retired Lebanese Army general, said of the Israeli allegations, 'Of course there are hidden invisible tunnels, bunkers of missile launchers, bunkers of explosive charges amongst civilians.'

He added: 'You cannot separate the southern society from Hezbollah, because Hezbollah is the society and the society is Hezbollah. Hezbollah is holding this society together through its political, military and economic services. It is providing the welfare for the south.'

Asked whether Hezbollah should be seen as responsible for the deaths of Lebanese civilians in the war, he replied: 'Of course Hezbollah is responsible. But these people are ready to sacrifice their lives for Hezbollah. If you tell them, Your relative died, they will tell you No, he was a martyr. The party’s military preparations from 2000 till 2006 took place in their areas. They were of course done with complete secrecy, but in accordance with the civilians."

Nice, but someone forgot to inform Ed about all this ...