AG Report 7.31.2024
Deadly Hezbollah Attack Crosses Red Line
A significant line was crossed last weekend in the conflict between Hezbollah and Israel. Hezbollah, as it often does, launched over 50 rockets on Saturday. During the barrage, one of the rockets hit a soccer field in the Druze town of Majdal Shams. Tragically, at least 12 children lost their lives while dozens of others were injured. This event increases the likelihood of escalation unless Lebanon and the international community intervene and fulfill their previous commitments to disarm Hezbollah.
Something that’s often gone unnoticed during this conflict is the intention behind these acts. Hezbollah and Hamas have been attempting to carry out such massacres almost daily since October 7. On that very day, they launched over 50 indiscriminate missiles that could have killed hundreds or even thousands.
The reason they haven't been successful is not due to a lack of desire to kill Israelis — including Israeli Jews, Arabs, Druze, and Christians — but because Israel invests extensively in protecting its civilians. They allocate billions to missile defense, construct bomb shelters across the country, establish sophisticated warning systems, and have evacuated large portions of the northern region since October to safeguard the population.
These measures save lives on both sides, but also distort the nature of the attacks. The absence of Israeli casualties creates a perception of a one-sided conflict, which normalizes the daily rocket launches.
While Israel makes painstaking efforts to protect its population, Hamas does the exact opposite. The terrorist group treats its civilians as human shields and even celebrates the deaths of their own people as valuable sacrifices of the information war. The only infrastructure Hamas builds in Gaza to shield against bombings are tunnels, which they explicitly forbid civilians from using. Meanwhile, they exploit civilian infrastructure to hide and launch attacks.
The killing of these children represents a major red line that alters the dynamics of this conflict. If Israel, despite its substantial investments in defensive measures, cannot protect its citizens, they are compelled to pursue offensive actions and directly confront the responsible terrorists. This has resulted in a significant cost for Palestinians in Gaza, and a similar outcome awaits those in Lebanon if Hezbollah is not contained through other means.
The news coverage of the attack was misleading and awful. Several major organizations treated denials from Hezbollah as worthy of emphasis despite the terror group originally taking responsibility for rocket attacks in the same area and extensive evidence that they were to blame. Unsurprisingly, the worst was The Washington Post, which published a story on the attack and its aftermath with the headline “Israel Hits Targets in Lebanon.”
Manchester Airport Video Shows Dangers of Viral Outrage
A short video of a police officer kicking a Middle Eastern man lying on the ground at Manchester Airport went viral and caused outrage on social media and in the UK. Major media outlets covered the incident and the behavior of the police officers was widely condemned. A lawyer for the alleged victim declared that “such police brutality hasn’t been seen before” during a press conference.
The danger of reacting to short clips is they often lack context…