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Why Isn’t NPR Telling Its Audience Exactly Who Hezbollah Is?

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

Approximately 80,000 residents in northern Israel have been displaced from their homes for the past 11 months, due to rocket fire by Hezbollah.

In an August 25 attack, Hezbollah launched hundreds of rockets and drones in a single day. And on July 27, an Iranian-made rocket launched by Hezbollah — an internationally-designated terrorist organization — killed 12 Israeli Druze teenagers.

But somehow none of these details made it into NPR’s September 17 article about the attack on Hezbollah last week, during which members of the group found their pagers and other devices exploding. (“Hezbollah accuses Israel as thousands hurt in unusual pager blasts.”)

Instead, NPR reporters Jane Arraf and Vincent Ni told readers that Israel’s “attack raises fears of an escalation,” and that, “Hezbollah militants have been engaged in 11 months of cross-border fighting with Israel,” whitewashing Hezbollah’s aggression.

The reporters also described Hezbollah as a “Lebanese armed group,” without noting that it is designated as a terrorist organization by the US government, and many other countries.

The article says, “the attack … comes following warnings from Israeli officials of possible military action against the Lebanese group.” But NPR’s readers are given no clue why Israel might issue such warnings.

A follow-up article on September 18 also failed to mention the 12 Druze children slain, or to relay that the US has designated Hezbollah as a terrorist organization, though it did accurately portray Hezbollah, and not Israel, as the aggressor in this conflict. (“Israel rigged pagers and radios to explode across Lebanon.”) It accompanied an audio piece that began with a sympathetic portrayal of the funeral of “a dozen people” that had been killed in the pager attack — without specifying if those “people” were Hezbollah members.

As the conflict between Israel and Hezbollah escalates, it’s important that tax-payer funded NPR be clear in every report not only about who the aggressor is, but also who exactly Hezbollah is.

Karen Bekker is the Assistant Director in the Media Response Team at CAMERA, the Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting and Analysis, where a version of this article first appeared. 

The post Why Isn’t NPR Telling Its Audience Exactly Who Hezbollah Is? first appeared on Algemeiner.com.

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Report: IDF Probes Whether Houthis Used Iranian Cluster Bomb-Bearing Missile

Houthi leader Abdul-Malik al-Houthi addresses followers via a video link at the al-Shaab Mosque, formerly al-Saleh Mosque, in Sanaa, Yemen, Feb. 6, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Khaled Abdullah

i24 NewsThe Israeli military said Saturday it launched a probe into the failure of its defenses to fully intercept a missile launched by Yemen’s Houthi jihadists, parts of which struck not far from the Ben Gurion airport on Friday night.

According to the Ynet website, one of the hypotheses being examined is that the projectile contained cluster munitions, similar to those used by Iran to fire at Israeli cities during the 12-day war in June. Cluster munitions pose a challenge to interceptors as they disperse smaller explosives over a wide area.

In June, Iran fired several missiles carrying scattered small bombs with the aim of increasing civilian casualties.

The IDF said on Saturday that its initial review suggests the ballistic missile from Yemen likely fragmented in mid-air. Five interceptors from various systems engaged with the missile, including THAAD, Arrow, David Sling & Iron Dome.

Authorities said that shrapnel impacted a house in the central Israeli moshav of Ginaton, yet no one was hurt, with the fragment landing in the house’s backyard.

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Iran Forces Kill Six Militants, IRNA Reports, Israel Link Seen

The Iranian flag is seen flying over a street in Tehran, Iran, Feb. 3, 2023. Photo: Majid Asgaripour/WANA (West Asia News Agency) via REUTERS

Iranian security forces shot dead six militants in a clash in southeastern Iran on Saturday, a day after armed rebels killed five police officers in the restive region, the official news agency IRNA reported.

IRNA said evidence showed the group was linked to Israel and may have been trained by Israel‘s Mossad spy agency. There was no immediate Israeli reaction to the allegation.

Another two members of the militant group were arrested, the report said. All but one of the militants were foreign, it added, without giving their nationality.

Iranian police said this month they had arrested as many as 21,000 suspects during the 12-day war with Israel in June.

Iran’s southeast has been the scene of sporadic clashes between security forces and armed groups, including Sunni militants and separatists who say they are fighting for greater rights and autonomy.

Tehran says some of them have ties to foreign powers and are involved in cross-border smuggling and insurgency.

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Benny Gantz Urges Time-Limited National Unity Government to Further Chances of Hostage Deal

Israeli Defence Minister Benny Gantz attends his party’s meeting at the Knesset, Israeli parliament in Jerusalem, June 27, 2022. REUTERS/Ronen Zvulun

i24 NewsBlue and White Party leader Benny Gantz on Saturday called on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and opposition politicians to form a temporary national unity government to further the chances of bringing home the hostages held in Gaza.

Addressing Netanyahu, Yair Lapid and Avigdor Liberman, Gantz said that the proposed government’s two supreme priorities would be the release of Israeli hostages held by the jihadists of Hamas and instituting universal conscription in Israel by ending the exemption from military service enjoyed by the ultra-Orthodox.

Upon attainment of the goals, the government would dissolve and call an election.

“The government’s term will begin with a hostage deal that brings everyone home,” Gantz said in a video address. “Within weeks, we will formulate an enlistment outline that would see our ultra-Orthodox brethren drafted to the military and ease the burden on those already serving. Finally, we will announce an agreed-upon election date in the spring of 2026 and pass a law to dissolve the Knesset [Israeli parliament] accordingly. This is what’s right for Israel.”

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