Leave it to the ABC to pervert news about perfectly reasonable Israeli defensive measures as somehow being about the protection of local Lebanese from Israeli aggression.
In an online article – accompanied by a shorter radio story on “AM” – published Saturday entitled “Israel-Lebanon Blue Line wall to offer war-hit locals peace of mind, but some fears persist,” Middle East correspondent Adam Harvey managed to not interview a single Israeli, civilian or official, about an Israeli initiative to protect Israelis from Hezbollah aggression by building a massive concrete wall along the border (and just to be clear this wall is completely in Israeli territory, as the UN has certified). Hezbollah, which should be the crux of a story about Israeli defenses against Hezbollah, is mentioned once, and only in the context of Israel’s stated reasons for building the wall:
“Israel says the $600 million project is essential to stop Hezbollah fighters from attacking Israelis in the villages and settlements near the border.”
Instead, Harvey interviews a local from the village of Dhayra, who claims the wall will protect them from nonexistent Israeli incursions; and Andrea Tenenti, the spokesperson for the United Nations Interim Force In Lebanon (UNIFIL).
Here is Harvey’s description of the local villager and context:
“In one Lebanese village in the shadow of the wall, local man Ibrahim Abou Sari says the threat of incursion is from Israel.
“Now with a solid wall, it is like a protection for them, and almost a protection for us,” Mr Sari said.
The village of Dharya [sic] was occupied by Israel from 1982 to 2000. Now, the Israeli troops are about 200 metres away, on the other side of the new wall.
“Yes it’s a protection for us, no one can pass the border and enter the village to destroy the house they want, doing whatever they want as before the liberation,” he said.
Harvey fails to mention that Hezbollah, which ultimately controls the entire Lebanese government and all its various organs to some extent, has supreme control over the border with Israel, including Dhayra, where Hezbollah representative Nawwaf Moussawi addressed supporters in 2014. Dhayra is one of a string of villages in the South that Hezbollah has turned into virtual armouries in preparation for its next war with Israel.
Read the article on the AIJAC website.
This story was also reported at Honest Reporting Downunder.