Israel hits Christian Television in Christian North : Kills One

By Juan Cole

07/22/06 "Information Clearing House' --- - Hizbullah rocket launchers are in the far south of Lebanon and Hizbullah is a Shiite organization.

Note that in a national emergency when 500,000 persons have been rendered homeless and the number is growing, when there are hundreds of dead and thousands of wounded, national media such as television and radio are absolutely essential to relief efforts and to avoiding further mass casualties.

On Saturday Israel hit television broadcasting in Christian North Lebanon:

Fighter bombers fired missiles at transmission stations in the central and northern Lebanese mountains, leaving antennas burning on the ground. Three missiles hit a transmission station at Fatqa in the Keserwan mountains, leaving antennas burning on the ground. Another airstrike crippled a transmission tower at Terbol in northern Lebanon, where relay stations for the Lebanese Broadcasting Corp., Future TV and Hezbollah's Al-Manar are located.

The three stations could no longer be seen in parts of the country although their satellite feed was unaffected. The Lebanese Broadcasting Corp. is the nation's leading private network. The transmission of Radio Free Lebanon, a private station, was also disrupted when airstrikes hit a tower on a mountaintop in Sannine that was also used by the Lebanese Broadcasting Corp. . . Saturday's attack was the first major airstrike in the Christian heartland.

The air strike killed at least one LBC employee, an innocent civilian. The dead man's last name was Chidiac, i.e., he was a Christian. I am now watching the LBC anchor pledging to attempt to go on broadcasting. The international satellite feed has not been knocked out by the Israelis yet.

LBC is a Christian-owned station, also available in the US via DISH satellite network. One of its commentators, May Chidiac, was attacked last fall for her criticism of Syria.

Future television is owned by the Hariri family, founded by reformist Rafik al-Hariri, whose assassination in February 2005 sparked the "Cedar Revolution" and brought his son, Saad al-Hariri, to prominence as leader of a reform bloc in parliament supported by the Bush administration.

That is, Israel on Saturday attacked and partially crippled the media outlets of the Christian and Sunni factions in the Cedar Revolution that Bush and his supporters trumpeted as the foundation of the "new Middle East."

It also further endangered millions of Lebanese civilians.

Israeli political and military elites are clearly upset that they have not been able to monopolize images and reporting of their vicious total war on Lebanese society, Christian, Sunni, Druze and Shiite. Attacking Lebanese television is an attempt to ensure that the war is seen only through the lens of Israeli media, which are censored by the Israeli military. I.e., full spectrum dominance of news and images.

Lebanese Broadcasting Company, a Christian-owned concern, is not a legitimate Israeli target in its struggle against Hizbullah's rockets in the far south of Lebanon.

This was another Israeli war crime.

Meanwhile, Reuters reports,

' More than 40 rockets fired by Lebanese guerrilla group Hizbollah hit towns across northern Israel on Saturday, injuring more than a dozen people, damaging two houses and setting cars ablaze, medics and the army said.

Reuters reports that one of the injuries was serious.

Copyright - Juan Cole - Visit his website www.juancole.com