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Hezbollah Twists Western Ideas and Values — and the Media Helps Them
Supporters of Hezbollah attend a protest organized by them against what they said was a violation of national sovereignty, near Beirut international airport, Lebanon, Feb. 15, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Emilie Madi
In his recent speech, Hezbollah’s Secretary-General Naim Qassem demanded that Israel respect the ceasefire agreement and withdraw from southern Lebanon by February 18 (which Israel has done).
Qassem framed the issue as a matter of “national sovereignty” and condemned any delay as “implementing the demands of the occupation.”
Major media outlets — including Voice of America, France 24, ABC News, and Reuters — picked up his statements with little scrutiny.
These reports followed stories of a woman killed and several others wounded while trying to return to their villages on Sunday, February 16 — two days before the withdrawal deadline.
Voice of America, in the very last paragraph of its report (where fewer readers are likely to see it), mentioned that the Lebanese army had actually warned citizens not to enter areas where its troops had not yet deployed. None of these outlets included the IDF’s account, which stated that it had fired warning shots after spotting unidentified individuals gathering in a military zone.
The framing in these reports is unmistakable: civilians trying to return home, only to be killed and wounded by “occupation” forces poised to violate international agreements.
Meanwhile, Hezbollah — the supposed defender of the people — invokes “sovereignty.” It all fits neatly into a narrative designed to evoke sympathy from Western readers, making it easy to distinguish good (Hezbollah) from evil (Israel).
But here’s the reality: Hezbollah, designated as a terrorist organization in the US, much of Europe, and by many Arab countries, isn’t fighting for actual sovereignty or national independence. Anyone familiar with its history knows that Hezbollah exploits these concepts to justify its own armed control over Lebanon, all with the Iranian regime’s backing.
And despite its rhetoric about international agreements, it is Hezbollah that has systematically violated those very agreements.
Take UN Resolution 1701, for example.
Signed by Lebanon in 2006, it required all armed groups in the country to disarm, allowing only the Lebanese Armed Forces to possess weapons. Hezbollah never complied.
Instead, it amassed a vast arsenal, smuggling in weapons from Iran via Syria. Beginning on October 8, 2023, Hezbollah fired rockets at northern Israeli towns almost daily until Israel finally retaliated.
By November 2024, 45 Israeli civilians had been killed, over 60,000 residents had fled their homes, and countless businesses and farms were destroyed.
Yet Hezbollah isn’t the only one with a selective memory when it comes to international agreements. The UN has largely ignored Hezbollah’s blatant violations of Resolution 1701. No new resolutions have been passed calling on Lebanon to enforce it. Meanwhile, since the IDF entered Gaza in October 2023, Western media have meticulously covered Israel’s military operations. Hezbollah’s near-daily rocket attacks, which forced millions of Israelis into shelters, have been relegated to footnotes — if they’re mentioned at all.
After all, the media are far less interested in the casualties of the “oppressor.”
And what does Hezbollah’s version of “sovereignty” actually mean? In Europe, national sovereignty is understood as an expression of the people’s will, not the ability of armed militias to impose their rule.
Qassem himself made Hezbollah’s stance clear:
The problem is not that [Lebanese authorities] are ensuring the safety of civilians at a difficult time,” Qassem said. “The problem is that this is the implementation of Israel’s command. We are facing a real problem. Where is the national sovereignty? Are we employees of Israel, implementing the demands of the occupation?” [emphasis added]
In other words, Hezbollah sees protecting civilians as a concession to Israel. This isn’t about sovereignty — it’s about control.
Hezbollah’s authority is built on fear, and Western media, whether through omission or framing, keep providing it with cover.
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.
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Iran, US Task Experts to Design Framework for a Nuclear Deal, Tehran Says
Atomic symbol and USA and Iranian flags are seen in this illustration taken, September 8, 2022. Photo: REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo
Iran and the United States agreed on Saturday to task experts to start drawing up a framework for a potential nuclear deal, Iran’s foreign minister said, after a second round of talks following President Donald Trump’s threat of military action.
At their second indirect meeting in a week, Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi negotiated for almost four hours in Rome with Trump’s Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff, through an Omani official who shuttled messages between them.
Trump, who abandoned a 2015 nuclear pact between Tehran and world powers during his first term in 2018, has threatened to attack Iran unless it reaches a new deal swiftly that would prevent it from developing a nuclear weapon.
Iran, which says its nuclear program is peaceful, says it is willing to discuss limited curbs to its atomic work in return for lifting international sanctions.
Speaking on state TV after the talks, Araqchi described them as useful and conducted in a constructive atmosphere.
“We were able to make some progress on a number of principles and goals, and ultimately reached a better understanding,” he said.
“It was agreed that negotiations will continue and move into the next phase, in which expert-level meetings will begin on Wednesday in Oman. The experts will have the opportunity to start designing a framework for an agreement.”
The top negotiators would meet again in Oman next Saturday to “review the experts’ work and assess how closely it aligns with the principles of a potential agreement,” he added.
Echoing cautious comments last week from Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, he added: “We cannot say for certain that we are optimistic. We are acting very cautiously. There is no reason either to be overly pessimistic.”
There was no immediate comment from the US side following the talks. Trump told reporters on Friday: “I’m for stopping Iran, very simply, from having a nuclear weapon. They can’t have a nuclear weapon. I want Iran to be great and prosperous and terrific.”
Washington’s ally Israel, which opposed the 2015 agreement with Iran that Trump abandoned in 2018, has not ruled out an attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities in the coming months, according to an Israeli official and two other people familiar with the matter.
Since 2019, Iran has breached and far surpassed the 2015 deal’s limits on its uranium enrichment, producing stocks far above what the West says is necessary for a civilian energy program.
A senior Iranian official, who described Iran’s negotiating position on condition of anonymity on Friday, listed its red lines as never agreeing to dismantle its uranium enriching centrifuges, halt enrichment altogether or reduce its enriched uranium stockpile below levels agreed in the 2015 deal.
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Hamas Says Fate of US-Israeli Hostage Unknown After Guard Killed in Israel Strike
Varda Ben Baruch, the grandmother of Edan Alexander, 19, an Israeli army volunteer kidnapped by Hamas, attends a special Kabbalat Shabbat ceremony with families of other hostages, in Herzliya, Israel October 27, 2023 REUTERS/Kuba Stezycki
Hamas said on Saturday the fate of an Israeli dual national soldier believed to be the last US citizen held alive in Gaza was unknown, after the body of one of the guards who had been holding him was found killed by an Israeli strike.
A month after Israel abandoned the ceasefire with the resumption of intensive strikes across the breadth of Gaza, Israel was intensifying its attacks.
President Donald Trump’s envoy Steve Witkoff said in March that freeing Edan Alexander, a 21-year-old New Jersey native who was serving in the Israeli army when he was captured during the Oct. 7, 2023 attacks that precipitated the war, was a “top priority.” His release was at the center of talks held between Hamas leaders and US negotiator Adam Boehler last month.
Hamas had said on Tuesday that it had lost contact with the militants holding Alexander after their location was hit in an Israeli attack. On Saturday it said the body of one of the guards had been recovered.
“The fate of the prisoner and the rest of the captors remains unknown,” said Hamas armed wing Al-Qassam Brigades’ spokesperson Abu Ubaida.
“We are trying to protect all the hostages and preserve their lives … but their lives are in danger because of the criminal bombings by the enemy’s army,” Abu Ubaida said.
The Israeli military did not respond to a Reuters request for comment.
Hamas released 38 hostages under the ceasefire that began on January 19. Fifty-nine are still believed to be held in Gaza, fewer than half of them still alive.
Israel put Gaza under a total blockade in March and restarted its assault on March 18 after talks failed to extend the ceasefire. Hamas says it will free remaining hostages only under an agreement that permanently ends the war; Israel says it will agree only to a temporary pause.
On Friday, the Israeli military said it hit about 40 targets across the enclave over the past day. The military on Saturday announced that a 35-year-old soldier had died in combat in Gaza.
NETANYAHU STATEMENT
Late on Thursday Khalil Al-Hayya, Hamas’ Gaza chief, said the movement was willing to swap all remaining 59 hostages for Palestinians jailed in Israel in return for an end to the war and reconstruction of Gaza.
He dismissed an Israeli offer, which includes a demand that Hamas lay down its arms, as imposing “impossible conditions.”
Israel has not responded formally to Al-Hayya’s comments, but ministers have said repeatedly that Hamas must be disarmed completely and can play no role in the future governance of Gaza. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is scheduled to give a statement later on Saturday.
Hamas on Saturday also released an undated and edited video of Israeli hostage Elkana Bohbot. Hamas has released several videos over the course of the war of hostages begging to be released. Israeli officials have dismissed past videos as propaganda.
After the video was released, Bohbot’s family said in a statement that they were “deeply shocked and devastated,” and expressed concern for his mental and physical condition.
“How much longer will he be expected to wait and ‘stay strong’?” the family asked, urging for all of the 59 hostages who are still held in Gaza to be brought home.
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Oman’s Sultan to Meet Putin in Moscow After Iran-US Talks
FILE PHOTO: Sultan Haitham bin Tariq al-Said gives a speech after being sworn in before the royal family council in Muscat, Oman January 11, 2020. Photo: REUTERS/Sultan Al Hasani/File Photo
Oman’s Sultan Haitham bin Tariq al-Said is set to visit Moscow on Monday, days after the start of a round of Muscat-mediated nuclear talks between the US and Iran.
The sultan will hold talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday, the Kremlin said.
Iran and the US started a new round of nuclear talks in Rome on Saturday to resolve their decades-long standoff over Tehran’s atomic aims, under the shadow of President Donald Trump’s threat to unleash military action if diplomacy fails.
Ahead of Saturday’s talks, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi met his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov in Moscow. Following the meeting, Lavrov said Russia was “ready to assist, mediate and play any role that will be beneficial to Iran and the USA.”
Moscow has played a role in Iran’s nuclear negotiations in the past as a veto-wielding U.N. Security Council member and signatory to an earlier deal that Trump abandoned during his first term in 2018.
The sultan’s meetings in Moscow visit will focus on cooperation on regional and global issues, the Omani state news agency and the Kremlin said, without providing further detail.
The two leaders are also expected to discuss trade and economic ties, the Kremlin added.
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