The inimitable Deborah Amos, whose every word drips with deep miscomprehension of why Israel has to defend itself today against the Jihad, has organized a circus of compassion on NPR whereby again and again and again Lebanese “refugees” (Shi’a-supporter-of-Hizballah “refugees” fleeing either Shi’a strongholds in south Beirut, or Shi’a strongholds in south Lebanon) are asked to tell their stories. And when they tell them, in case they are not doing enough to arouse the listener’s compassion — no wet eyes in this house — they are prompted, egged on, by the NPR interviewer. And no doubt the Arab interpreter also adds her mite, just to make sure to get the Muslim Arab view across.
There was not a word, in an interview with two “Lebanese students” I heard recently, as to what kind of “Lebanese” these “Lebanese students” were. Surely we had a right to know if these were Shi’a Lebanese, didn’t we? Surely it might have made a difference if they were, say, not Shi’a, or not Muslim at all, but rather Christians or Druse whose territories have been left unscathed except for one truck that looked like it might be a rocket launcher, moving in a Christian part of Beirut?
One of the students did let slip that a lot of Lebanese “hate Hizballah,” but this was not picked up by Deborah Amos, who passed quickly over it. I wonder why. Surely it might have been something her audience would wish to know: why do so many non-Shi’a Lebanese hate Hizballah? And why, when one of the students told her how Hizballah was “defending the south” did she not ask the obvious question: defending it from what? Wasn’t the last Israeli soldier removed from internationally-recognized Lebanese territory (please, no more of that Shebaa Farms nonsense) six full years ago?
And why was it, in the course of this interview, and in all of the coverage, there is never a discussion of the obvious. What is the obvious? The obvious are those 12,000-15,000 missiles. What are they doing in Lebanon? Where did they come from? Who supplied them? Who brought them into Lebanon? Did no one notice them? What did the “Lebanese” think was going to happen with those missiles and all their other military equipment? What did they think those goosestepping black-balaclaved Kalashnikov-clutching bezonians of beetle-browed Nasrallah, he of the Nazi rhetoric, and the fascist blackshirts, were going to do? Just squirrel them away for the hell of it?
Whenever I hear anyone from Lebanon say that “everything was fine, it was all so wonderful” and now “everything is destroyed,” I want to ask them how they can say with a straight face that “everything was fine” when, step by careful step, more arms and missiles were being brought in from Iran, and Syria, than are in the armories of even some European countries? How dare they say that up until now “everything was fine”? And how dare they pretend, as the Shi’a and other Muslims do, that everything was okay up to now, when the Christians have been under threat, steadily menaced and undermined, for the past half-century? How can they say this with poker faces when the undermining of what had once been a Christian-majority refuge in the heart of unpleasant Dar al-Islam has continued right through to today?
What do they take us for? Complete idiots? NPR I mean, not those Shi’a “Lebanese” and those non-Shi’a who would defend them, and rewrite not just ancient history, but the history of the last six years, the history of the last year since Syrian soldiers were removed, and even the history of the last month?
NPR may not believe all this. Deborah Amos may not believe it. But historical amnesia is no longer the strong suit of NPR listeners. The more outrageous the coverage, the more fury builds, and the less one wishes to support it, or to have it receive any government support whatsoever. One sees how people in England are forced to pay license fees to support the hideous BBC and its Al-Jazeerish coverage. One does not want such a situation here.
Taxpayers: It’s time to pull the plug on NPR. Long past time.