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How the Media Distorts the IDF’s Preemptive Strike on Hezbollah
Lebanon’s Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah meets with top Hamas official Khalil Al-Hayya in this handout picture obtained by Reuters on July 5, 2024, Lebanon. Photo: Hezbollah Media Office/Handout via REUTERS
In the early hours of Sunday, Israel initiated a preemptive strike to neutralize an imminent and large-scale drone and rocket attack by Hezbollah.
Israeli Air Force jets targeted multiple sites within Lebanese territory — locations that the Iranian-backed terrorist group had prepared for launching their assault. The intended targets of this attack included Israeli civilian areas such as Tel Aviv.
Starting around 5:30 am, Hezbollah boasted that it had launched approximately 320 rockets at northern Israel, targeting areas such as Safed and Acre, along with 11 military bases that had largely been untouched by the Lebanese terror group until now.
The IDF reported that Hezbollah’s attack was significantly less severe than the group claimed, attributing the reduced impact to Israel’s successful preemptive strike on the Hezbollah weapons.
Shortly after Hezbollah carried out what it called “the first phase” of its response to the Israeli operation that killed its second-in-command, Fouad Shukr, the group announced that leader Hassan Nasrallah would address the “Zionist claims” of a preemptive strike in a forthcoming speech.
In short, Hezbollah admitted it had planned a large-scale attack on Israel, which Israel acted to prevent.
“In a self-defense act to remove these threats, the IDF is striking terror targets in Lebanon, from which Hezbollah was planning to launch their attacks on Israeli civilians.”
Listen to an update from IDF Spokesperson, RAdm. Daniel Hagari, regarding Hezbollah’s plans to attack… pic.twitter.com/fKvbUVSmbT
— Israel Defense Forces (@IDF) August 25, 2024
Unfortunately, the coverage from several leading news organizations of Sunday’s escalation exemplified how omitting a single crucial detail can distort the entire narrative.
The New York Times ran an early headline stating: “Israel strikes Hezbollah in Lebanon, which fires rockets at Israel.”
The missing word? Preemptively. Israel preemptively struck launching sites being prepared for an imminent attack just hours later.
The headline’s implication was undoubtedly deliberate the Times presented a skewed image of an aggressive Israel, seemingly provoking a broader regional conflict by needlessly attacking Hezbollah.
Even after Hezbollah confirms it was involved in a major assault against Israel, @nytimes does its best to paint Israel as the aggressor for defending itself.https://t.co/G3i5jfA6tC pic.twitter.com/MbKzyfRxtc
— HonestReporting (@HonestReporting) August 25, 2024
This narrative was echoed by The Los Angeles Times and CBS News, with the former downplaying Hezbollah’s drone and rocket strikes, while the latter went as far as to suggest Israel might have both ignited a wider conflict and hindered ceasefire negotiations.
Hezbollah was preparing to launch thousands of rockets & drones at Tel Aviv and central Israel. The IDF launched a preemptive strike to take out the launchers.
And this is the best headline @latimes could come up with. https://t.co/tmSKwOod2R pic.twitter.com/mEBmD2hC3S
— HonestReporting (@HonestReporting) August 25, 2024
In one of the more hyperbolic and misleading headlines, the Daily Mail claimed that the Middle East conflict had “explod[ed]” as Israel bombed Lebanon and Hezbollah fired “150 rockets towards the Iron Dome.”
One doesn’t need to be a munitions expert to know that Hezbollah doesn’t aim at the very missile interceptors designed to neutralize its rockets. Israel has been forced to use those defensive weapons to prevent the death of its own people.
Note to @MailOnline: Hezbollah doesn’t fire towards the very Iron Dome interceptors that take out their own rockets.
And Israel isn’t simply dropping bombs inside Lebanon, it’s targeting Hezbollah rocket launchers.#HeadlineFailhttps://t.co/Cj0KCTyTVd pic.twitter.com/8IZcHjBsm7
— HonestReporting (@HonestReporting) August 25, 2024
Meanwhile, “confused” best describes NPR’s take on the events, as they somehow managed to portray Hezbollah as the victim while simultaneously implying that Lebanon is a party to the ongoing ceasefire talks.
Shocking #HeadlineFail courtesy of @NPR.
This isn’t “Israel attacks, Hezbollah responds.” The terror org was primed to launch a massive barrage when Israel took preventative action.
And the ceasefire talks? They’re about Gaza, not Lebanon.https://t.co/sEgZCZ7WlA pic.twitter.com/bpfbPpOqR4
— HonestReporting (@HonestReporting) August 25, 2024
The UK’s Independent further muddled the timeline, implying that Hezbollah’s attack was “retaliation” for Israel’s preemptive strikes — despite the terror group itself stating the opposite.
Finally, BBC News correspondent Jon Donnison, whose history of editorial “slips” while reporting on Israel should have earned him a reassignment far from the region, managed to misstep not once, but twice in his analysis.
He incorrectly referred to Tel Aviv as Israel’s largest city and painted Israel as war-mongering, describing the strikes as potentially the “largest attack on Lebanon” since the 2006 war.
The reality of Israel’s precarious position in the Middle East — surrounded by armed and powerful terrorist entities — is often overlooked by the international media, which prefer to portray Israel as vying for regional dominance.
This reality necessitates Israel’s decisive actions, such as sending jets to strike Hezbollah targets, which are being used to launch rockets and drones at Israeli civilians, like the 12 Druze children tragically killed while playing soccer in Majdal Shams.
By downplaying or omitting the preemptive nature of Israel’s actions, these publications not only mislead but also shift blame from the true aggressor to the defender. This kind of coverage fuels a broader and pernicious agenda, painting Israel as a destabilizing force in the Middle East while undermining its right to self-defense. It’s a dangerous game.
The author is a contributor to HonestReporting, a Jerusalem-based media watchdog with a focus on antisemitism and anti-Israel bias — where a version of this article first appeared.
The post How the Media Distorts the IDF’s Preemptive Strike on Hezbollah first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Trump’s Travel Ban on 12 Countries Goes Into Effect Early Monday
US President Donald Trump attends the Saudi-US Investment Forum, in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, May 13, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Brian Snyder
US President Donald Trump’s order banning citizens of 12 countries from entering the United States goes into effect at 12:01 am ET (0401 GMT) on Monday, a move the president promulgated to protect the country from “foreign terrorists.”
The countries affected by the latest travel ban are Afghanistan, Myanmar, Chad, Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen.
The entry of people from seven other countries – Burundi, Cuba, Laos, Sierra Leone, Togo, Turkmenistan and Venezuela – will be partially restricted.
Trump, a Republican, said the countries subject to the most severe restrictions were determined to harbor a “large-scale presence of terrorists,” fail to cooperate on visa security, have an inability to verify travelers’ identities, as well as inadequate record-keeping of criminal histories and high rates of visa overstays in the United States.
He cited last Sunday’s incident in Boulder, Colorado, in which an Egyptian national tossed a gasoline bomb into a crowd of pro-Israel demonstrators as an example of why the new curbs are needed. But Egypt is not part of the travel ban.
The travel ban forms part of Trump’s policy to restrict immigration into the United States and is reminiscent of a similar move in his first term when he barred travelers from seven Muslim-majority nations.
Officials and residents in countries whose citizens will soon be banned expressed dismay and disbelief.
Chad President Mahamat Idriss Deby Itno said he had instructed his government to stop granting visas to US citizens in response to Trump’s action.
“Chad has neither planes to offer nor billions of dollars to give, but Chad has its dignity and its pride,” he said in a Facebook post, referring to countries such as Qatar, which gifted the U.S. a luxury airplane for Trump’s use and promised to invest billions of dollars in the U.S.
Afghans who worked for the US or US-funded projects and were hoping to resettle in the US expressed fear that the travel ban would force them to return to their country, where they could face reprisal from the Taliban.
Democratic US lawmakers also voiced concern about the policies.
“Trump’s travel ban on citizens from over 12 countries is draconian and unconstitutional,” said US Representative Ro Khanna on social media late on Thursday. “People have a right to seek asylum.”
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Israeli Military Says It Struck Hamas Member in Southern Syria
Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa speaks during a joint press conference with French President Emmanuel Macron after a meeting at the Elysee Palace in Paris, France, May 7, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Stephanie Lecocq/Pool
The Israeli military said on Sunday that it struck a member of the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas in southern Syria’s Mazraat Beit Jin, days after Israel carried out its first airstrikes in the country in nearly a month.
Hamas did not immediately comment on the strike.
Israel said on Tuesday it hit weapons belonging to the government in retaliation for the firing of two projectiles towards Israel for the first time under the country’s new leadership. Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz held Syria’s President Ahmed al-Sharaa accountable.
Damascus in response said reports of the shelling were unverified, reiterating that Syria does not pose a threat to any regional party.
A little known group named “Martyr Muhammad Deif Brigades,” an apparent reference to Hamas’ military leader who was killed in an Israeli strike in 2024, reportedly claimed responsibility for the shelling. Reuters, however, could not independently verify the claim.
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Israel Orders Military to Stop Gaza-Bound Yacht Carrying Greta Thunberg
FILE PHOTO: Activist Greta Thunberg sits aboard the aid ship Madleen, which left the Italian port of Catania on June 1 to travel to Gaza to deliver humanitarian aid, in this picture released on June 2, 2025 on social media. Photo: Freedom Flotilla Coalition/via REUTERS/File Photo
Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz told the military on Sunday to stop a charity boat carrying activists including Sweden’s Greta Thunberg who are planning to defy an Israeli blockade and reach Gaza.
Operated by the pro-Palestinian Freedom Flotilla Coalition (FFC), the British-flagged Madleen yacht set sail from Sicily on June 6 and is currently off the Egyptian coast, heading slowly towards the Gaza Strip, which is besieged by Israel.
“I instructed the IDF to act so that the Madleen .. does not reach Gaza,” Katz said in a statement.
“To the antisemitic Greta and her Hamas-propaganda-spouting friends, I say clearly: You’d better turn back, because you will not reach Gaza.”
Climate activist Thunberg said she joined the Madleen crew to “challenge Israel’s illegal siege and escalating war crimes” in Gaza and highlight the urgent need for humanitarian aid. She has rejected previous Israeli accusations of antisemitism.
Israel went to war with Hamas in October 2023 after the Islamist terrorists launched a surprise attack on southern Israel, killing more 1,200 people and taking 251 hostages back to the enclave.
Katz said the blockade was essential to Israel’s national security as it seeks to eliminate Hamas.
“The State of Israel will not allow anyone to break the naval blockade on Gaza, whose primary purpose is to prevent the transfer of weapons to Hamas,” he said.
The Madleen is carrying a symbolic quantity of aid, including rice and baby formula, the FFC has said.
FFC press officer Hay Sha Wiya said on Sunday the boat was currently some 160 nautical miles (296 km) from Gaza. “We are preparing for the possibility of interception,” she said.
Besides Thunberg, there are 11 other crew members aboard, including Rima Hassan, a French member of the European Parliament.
Israeli media have reported that the military plans to intercept the yacht before it reaches Gaza and escort it to the Israeli port of Ashdod. The crew would then be deported.
In 2010, Israeli commandos killed 10 people when they boarded a Turkish ship, the Mavi Marmara, that was leading a small flotilla towards Gaza.
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