Hezbollah’s Phony Victory

It is not in the best interests of any government to offer its citizens the Freedom of the Press. However, the idealism of Western civilization has led us to value self-government as the only legitimate form of representation. Therefore, the Freedom of the Press and Speech are highly regarded in our society.

On the other hand, the world’s worst fascist totalitarians would agree that information is power. Goebbels, Stalin and Bin Laden would be enthusiastic about this point. Yet our governments have refrained from exercising control over such an important tool that our enemies still jealously cling to. They fail to see how they de-legitimize themselves by such reactionary measures. Since they rely heavily on misinformation they don’t even care. In their eyes the Freedom of the Press is one of our greatest weaknesses.

The Secretary General of Hezbollah, Hassan Nasrallah, realized that by giving the media the most sensational headlines as possible he could gain a substantial edge over Israel in their recent conflict. This strategy just about allowed him to secure the services of the international media as an unpaid public relations consultant.

After the conflict, Hezbollah’s boasts of victory were warmly received by the unquestioning media. While it is far from certain whether or not either side has won, this “victory” was achieved despite the fact that Hezbollah has failed to offer any significant resistance to the Israeli military. Israel was able to bomb Hezbollah targets throughout Lebanon with complete impunity, not one Israeli jet was shot down during the conflict.

Israeli troops quickly reached their objective of the Litani River and Hezbollah was unable to stop them. They made it to the river 24 hours after the Israeli government announced the objective, even though the government had originally announced that it would take them a week to get there.

The symbolic fact that Israel retook most of the security zone that was the source of Hezbollah’s claim of victory over Israel in 2000 was completely lost on the media and the general public.

Israel’s enemies triumphantly proclaimed that Israel failed because they didn’t succeed in freeing the two Israeli soldiers that were kidnapped by Hezbollah (and was the reason for the war). …But hold on... It is very likely that this conflict will still produce those results because Israeli commandos were sent on several daring missions to seize Hezbollah guerillas, netting 13 prisoners. Although Israel has stated that the release of the Israeli soldiers must be unconditional, one official said that they may be willing to exchange the prisoners and the remains of many others for their kidnapped soldiers. This would be a favorable outcome because the aim of Hezbollah’s kidnapping attack was to swap the victims for Arab prisoners that were already in Israeli jails beforehand.

It is important for Israel to change the way they deal with these issues because this isn’t the first time they have gone down this road...

1. - In 1985 Israel freed 1,150 Palestinians in exchange for three soldiers held in Lebanon.

2. - In 2004 Hezbollah gleefully exchanged a kidnapped Israeli businessman and the remains of three Israeli soldiers for the release of 436 terrorists from Israeli prisons.

Now Israel has sent a clear message. Every time Hezbollah kidnaps an Israeli soldier, Israel will seize six times as many Hezbollah guerillas.

THIS IS A BATTLE THAT HEZBOLLAH CANNOT WIN.

Some supporters of Israel have astonishingly pronounced Hezbollah as the victor as well. They despaired because they had unrealistic expectations and were demoralized by Hezbollah propaganda. Others wished to use the conflict to oust Israeli Prime Minister Olmert, the same way the Democrats want to use the Iraq war to defeat the Republican Party in the US.

Meanwhile Hezbollah continues to dismantle its outposts on the Israeli border and retreat northward. The normally complacent Lebanese army has even deployed troops along the Syrian border to block routes used by weapons smugglers. Israel announced that it is ready to terminate its blockade of Lebanon as soon as international forces replace them in Lebanese seaports and airports. UN troops have been moving in for the past week and when fully deployed they will have 15,000 heavily armed peacekeepers to deter any Hezbollah attacks.

When these efforts are completed Israel will have a security buffer zone to prevent any reoccurrence of the kidnapping attack that sparked this conflict. Most importantly Hezbollah will lose most of the land that it gained from the Israeli withdrawal of 2000. This will be very embarrassing in the long-term.

It appears that the only resistance Hezbollah proved to be effective at was to conquer the media. This conflict was a theatrical performance that starred dead children who danced on their puppeteer’s strings. WHY IS IT THAT WHEN ISRAELI CHILDREN ARE KILLED IN TERRORIST ATTACKS THEIR LIFELESS BODIES ARE NOT DISPLAYED LIKE TROPHIES FOR THE CAMERA? In Lebanon the man nicknamed as “Green Helmet” would load dead children on to ambulances, then unload them and continue the process until he got the right camera shot. It is no small wonder why Hezbollah uses civilians as shields.

These days Hezbollah has been downplaying an interview which featured a statement from Nasrallah that he wouldn’t have ordered the capture of the two Israeli soldiers if he had known it would lead to such a war. There is one thing that he doesn’t regret. The use of civilians as shields has turned out to be very profitable and this conflict ensures that such tactics will only increase in the years ahead.



Hezbollah launches rockets from a heavily populated area in the suburbs of the city of Tyre.

Zombietime has done a great job summarizing the many frauds perpetrated in the media during this conflict. See here and here.