NPR surveyed the damage in southern Lebanon while escorted by a Hezbollah propagandist. Its report ignored Hezbollah's human shield strategy, attacks on Israel and how the terror group's tactics mirror those of Hamas.
Former Department of Homeland Security official Fayrouz Saad spoke with NPR about her family's connection to Bint Jbeil, Lebanon, following the destruction of her family's "ancestral home" there. Referring to the village as quaint, Saad omitted any reference to PLO control at the time her parents left Lebanon or to Hezbollah presence there in the last several decades.
Did Hezbollah accept the Israel-Lebanon ceasefire or reject it? Is the terror group willing to abide by its terms or is it refusing to disarm? BBC can't seem to decide.
NBC relied on commentary from Israel-hating "experts" and ignored Hezbollah's perfidious tactics to produce manipulative reporting that import to Lebanon the "Israel is targeting health care workers" libel from Israel's two-year war against Hamas in Gaza.
In writing about the temporary, extended ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon/Hezbollah, NPR needed only one sentence to subtly manipulate readers into believing Hezbollah's war is only on the Israeli military whereas Israel's war is on Lebanon generally. In doing so, it crafted a narrative and inverted reality.
In an interview with a Hezbollah leader, a group that is recognized as a terrorist organization by the United States, PBS posed open-ended questions and engaged in polite, civil discourse. This contrasted sharply with a PBS interview of Israeli Ambassador to the U.N. Danny Danon, which was marked with hostility and accusations masked as questions.
Remarkably, Torbey – who only utters the word Hezbollah once in her entire report – has nothing to tell BBC audiences about the terrorist organization’s rejection of Lebanon’s direct negotiations with Israel or the threats toward the Lebanese president and government from Hezbollah officials that have been voiced both before and since the ceasefire came into effect.
Omitting critical information about the deadly incident in which Amal Khalil, who worked for the Hezbollah-affiliated Al-Akhbar, was killed, BBC advances the false narrative that Israel targets journalists.
Writing in The Times, Beirut-based Sally Hayden seemed to go out of her way to avoid the topic of Hezbollah fighters killed in the war. One man mentioned by name, described by Hayden only as a "paramedic," is actually identified as a "martyred jihad fighter" in the tombstone on the accompanying photo.
NPR's reporting on Lebanon sounded like it had been scripted by Hezbollah's media arm. By distorting history, ignoring Hezbollah's attacks on Israel and ceasefire violations, and leaving out important context, NPR cast Israel as the perpetual aggressor.
