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The BBC Is Promoting Hezbollah’s Narrative in Lebanon — Not the Truth
The BBC logo is seen at the entrance at Broadcasting House, the BBC headquarters in central London. Photo by Vuk Valcic / SOPA Images/Sipa USA via Reuters Connect
On April 1, the BBC News website published a report credited to Hugo Bachega in Beirut and Emma Rossiter in London, which currently goes under the headline “Four killed in Israeli strike on Beirut, Lebanon says, despite ceasefire”.
As the text of the report shows, the BBC could have worded its headline in a way that informed readers that two of the “four killed” were Hezbollah operatives. Notably, the BBC chose not to do so: [emphasis added]
An Israeli air strike on Beirut’s southern suburbs has killed a Hezbollah official and three other people, Lebanon’s health ministry says, putting further pressure on a fragile ceasefire between Israel and the Lebanese armed group.
The strike also injured seven people, the health ministry said.
The attack was the second on the Dahieh area, where Hezbollah has a strong presence, in recent days, despite the truce that came into force in November.
The Israeli military said it had targeted Hassan Bdeir, who it alleged had helped Hamas plan an attack against Israeli civilians.
Hezbollah confirmed Bdeir had been killed along with his son, who was also a member of the group.
Further on in the report, readers are told that:
Later, Hezbollah issued a brief statement that confirmed the deaths of Bdeir, who it described as a “commander”, and his son, Ali.
Contrary to the BBC’s claim, the “fragile ceasefire” which came into effect in November 2024 was signed by Israel and Lebanon rather than by Israel and “the Lebanese armed group” — as the BBC euphemistically chooses to describe the widely designated Hezbollah terrorist organization.
The BBC’s explanation of the background to the strike which took place in the early hours of April 1 is based entirely on a statement put out by Israeli security forces:
The Israel Defence Forces (IDF), Israel Security Agency (ISA) and Mossad spy agency said in a statement that the military conducted a strike in the Dahieh that killed Hassan Bdeir.
They said Bdeir had “recently directed Hamas operatives and assisted them in planning a significant and imminent terror attack against Israeli civilians”.
“Due to the immediate threat” posed, they added, Israeli forces “acted to eliminate him and removed the threat”. The statement did not give details about the alleged threat, and indicated that the Israeli military would continue to carry out attacks in Lebanon.
Remarkably, Bachega and Rossiter erased from audience view the part of that statement noting that Bdeir was “a terrorist in Hezbollah’s Unit 3900 and the Iranian Quds Force,” and they did not provide BBC audiences with any further relevant information in their own words.
As reported at the Alma Center:
According to the IDF spokesman’s statement, he [Bdeir] operated under Unit 3900, a joint unit of Hezbollah and the Revolutionary Guards Quds Force. Their main mission is to cooperate with Palestinian terrorist organizations to carry out terrorist activities against Israeli targets and interests in Israel and around the world (similar to Units 910 and 133) and to provide financial support, knowledge, and means. In addition to operations in various countries around the world, one of its main theaters of operation is Judea and Samaria.
Ynet reported that: “According to Israeli intelligence, Bdeir played a central role in a joint terror network involving both Hezbollah and Hamas operatives […] The network was reportedly planning an imminent large-scale attack abroad, which officials said could have killed hundreds of Israelis had it been carried out.”
Nevertheless, already in the opening paragraph of their report, Bachega and Rossiter chose to frame the strike eliminating a terrorist planning an imminent attack as “putting further pressure on a fragile ceasefire.”
The BBC journalists also promote statements along the same lines from Lebanese officials who have so far failed to fully implement the terms of the ceasefire and from a member of Hezbollah:
Lebanon’s President Joseph Aoun condemned the strike, calling it a dangerous warning.
Prime Minister Nawaf Salam said it was a “flagrant violation” of the ceasefire. […]
During a visit to the scene of the strike, Hezbollah MP Ali Ammar said the group was exercising “utmost patience and restraint”, but warned that “this patience has limits”.
As documented at The Long War Journal, additional Hezbollah parliamentarians made similar statements.
Interestingly, it was that Hezbollah narrative portraying Israeli counter-terrorism operations as endangering the ceasefire — rather than the activities of terrorists planning a mass casualty attack — that Bachega and Rossiter chose to amplify in their report.
Hadar Sela is the co-editor of CAMERA UK — an affiliate of the Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting and Analysis (CAMERA), where a version of this article first appeared.
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Antisemitic Incidents at Argentina Local Soccer Match Spark Official Investigations, Condemnations
Fans of Argentinian soccer club All Boys marched through the streets before their match against Atlanta soccer club, carrying a coffin draped with an Israeli flag alongside Iranian and Palestinian flags. Photo: Screenshot
Argentinian authorities and soccer officials have launched investigations following antisemitic incidents by Club Atlético All Boys fans during Sunday’s local match against Atlanta.
Atlanta, a soccer team based in the Villa Crespo neighborhood of Buenos Aires, has deep historical ties to Argentina’s Jewish community, which has long been a significant presence in the area.
This latest antisemitic incident took place outside the stadium before the game had even started.
All Boys fans were seen waving Palestinian and Iranian flags, carrying a coffin draped with an Israeli flag, and handing out flyers bearing messages like “Free Palestine” and “Israel and Atlanta are the same crap.”
Before a football match today against the Argentine sports club Atlanta, which is closely associated with the Jewish community, fans of the opposing team, All Boys, waved Islamic Republic and Palestinian flags while parading a coffin draped in an Israeli flag through the streets.… pic.twitter.com/IQs4v6eoFz
— Hen Mazzig (@HenMazzig) June 29, 2025
Then, during the match — which ended in a 0-0 draw — a drone carrying a Palestinian flag flew over the stadium, while some fans reportedly chanted anti-Israel slogans.
Local police confirmed they have issued citations to individuals accused of inciting public disorder and related offenses.
On Monday, the Argentine Football Association (AFA) condemned the incidents as “abhorrent” and confirmed the organization has opened a formal inquiry into the events.
“This is not folklore. This is discrimination,” the statement reads.
Argentina’s Security Minister Patricia Bullrich also announced that a criminal complaint has been filed, citing “acts of violence, expressions of racial and religious hatred, and public intimidation.”
In a post on X, the Delegation of Argentine Israelite Associations (DAIA), the country’s Jewish umbrella organization, condemned the incidents and called on both local authorities and the soccer officials to “take firm action against these acts of hatred.”
“We urge the authorities to take all necessary actions and apply the full force of the law,” the statement reads. “Violence and discrimination must have no place in our society.”
Repudiamos enérgicamente las expresiones antisemitas ocurridas hoy en las inmediaciones del estadio Malvinas Argentinas.
Exigimos a las autoridades correspondientes, a la AFA y al Club All Boys que actúen con firmeza ante estos hechos de odio.
La violencia y la discriminación no… pic.twitter.com/3AmY7IQscY— DAIA (@DAIAArgentina) June 29, 2025
Since the Hamas-led invasion of and massacre across southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, Argentina has experienced a surge in antisemitic incidents and anti-Jewish hate crimes.
According to a recent report by DAIA, Argentina experienced a 15 percent increase in antisemitic activity last year, with 687 anti-Jewish hate crimes recorded — up from 598 incidents in 2023 — marking a significant rise nationwide.
The study indicates that 66 percent of the antisemitic incidents originated in the digital realm, with a significant rise in Nazi symbols and conspiracy theories, but there was also a 34 percent increase in reported physical assaults, with such hate crimes rising in schools and neighborhoods.
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Iranian nuclear program degraded by up to two years, Pentagon says
A satellite image of Iran’s Fordow nuclear facility. Photo: File.
The Pentagon said on Wednesday that US strikes 10 days ago had degraded Iran’s nuclear program by up to two years, suggesting the U.S. military operation likely achieved its goals despite a far more cautious initial assessment that leaked to the public.
Sean Parnell, a Pentagon spokesman, offered the figure at a briefing to reporters, adding that the official estimate was “probably closer to two years.” Parnell did not provide evidence to back up his assessment.
“We have degraded their program by one to two years, at least intel assessments inside the Department [of Defense] assess that,” Parnell told a news briefing.
U.S. military bombers carried out strikes against three Iranian nuclear facilities on June 22 using more than a dozen 30,000-pound bunker-buster bombs and more than two dozen Tomahawk land attack cruise missiles.
The evolving U.S. intelligence about the impact of the strikes is being closely watched, after President Donald Trump said almost immediately after they took place that Iran’s program had been obliterated, language echoed by Parnell at Wednesday’s briefing.
Such conclusions often take the U.S. intelligence community weeks or more to determine.
“All of the intelligence that we’ve seen [has] led us to believe that Iran’s — those facilities especially, have been completely obliterated,” Parnell said.
Over the weekend, the head of the UN nuclear watchdog, Rafael Grossi, said that Iran could be producing enriched uranium in a few months, raising doubts about how effective US strikes to destroy Tehran’s nuclear program have been.
Several experts have also cautioned that Iran likely moved a stockpile of near weapons-grade highly enriched uranium out of the deeply buried Fordow site before the strikes and could be hiding it.
But US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said last week he was unaware of intelligence suggesting Iran had moved its highly enriched uranium to shield it from US strikes.
A preliminary assessment last week from the Defense Intelligence Agency suggested that the strikes may have only set back Iran’s nuclear program by months. But Trump administration officials said that assessment was low confidence and had been overtaken by intelligence showing Iran’s nuclear program was severely damaged.
According to Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi, the strikes on the Fordow nuclear site caused severe damage.
“No one exactly knows what has transpired in Fordow. That being said, what we know so far is that the facilities have been seriously and heavily damaged,” Araqchi said in the interview broadcast by CBS News on Tuesday.
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Switzerland Moves to Close Gaza Humanitarian Foundation’s Geneva Office Over Legal Irregularities
Palestinians carry aid supplies received from the US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation in the central Gaza Strip, May 29, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Ramadan Abed/File Photo
Switzerland has moved to shut down the Geneva office of the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), a US- and Israeli-backed aid group, citing legal irregularities in its establishment.
The GHF began distributing food packages in Gaza in late May, implementing a new aid delivery model aimed at preventing the diversion of supplies by Hamas, as Israel continues its defensive military campaign against the Palestinian terrorist group.
The initiative has drawn criticism from the UN and international organizations, some of which have claimed that Jerusalem is causing starvation in the war-torn enclave.
Israel has vehemently denied such accusations, noting that, until its recently imposed blockade, it had provided significant humanitarian aid in the enclave throughout the war.
Israeli officials have also said much of the aid that flows into Gaza is stolen by Hamas, which uses it for terrorist operations and sells the rest at high prices to Gazan civilians.
With a subsidiary registered in Geneva, the GHF — headquartered in Delaware — reports having delivered over 56 million meals to Palestinians in just one month.
According to a regulatory announcement published Wednesday in the Swiss Official Gazette of Commerce, the Federal Supervisory Authority for Foundations (ESA) may order the dissolution of the GHF if no creditors come forward within the legal 30-day period.
The Trump administration did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the Swiss decision to shut down its Geneva office.
“The GHF confirmed to the ESA that it had never carried out activities in Switzerland … and that it intends to dissolve the Geneva-registered branch,” the ESA said in a statement.
Last week, Geneva authorities gave the GHF a 30-day deadline to address legal shortcomings or risk facing enforcement measures.
Under local laws and regulations, the foundation failed to meet several requirements: it did not appoint a board member authorized to sign documents domiciled in Switzerland, did not have the minimum three board members, lacked a Swiss bank account and valid address, and operated without an auditing body.
The GHF operates independently from UN-backed mechanisms, which Hamas has sought to reinstate, arguing that these vehicles are more neutral.
Israeli and American officials have rejected those calls, saying Hamas previously exploited UN-run systems to siphon aid for its war effort.
The UN has denied those allegations while expressing concerns that the GHF’s approach forces civilians to risk their safety by traveling long distances across active conflict zones to reach food distribution points.
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