8/23/10 LtCol Harari assassination, Part 2: Stories ignored, stories published

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Continued from Part 1

“[T]oo many reporters have forgotten that the highest calling of journalists is to ferret out the truth, consequences be damned.”

- Arianna Huffington, July 29, 2008

This supplement consists of two clashing elements:

1. The stories and pictures that HuffPost could have run or cited, which told the shocking truth of Lebanon's aggression, and murder of LtC Harari --- but chose not to.
   A detailed chronology of the stories that HUFF-WATCH found through a simple Google search, published from across the Internet and around the world, concerning this incident. All of which HuffPost ignored.
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2. The stories that HuffPost chose to run on its front page and World page, from August 4 onward, instead of any of those listed in (1).
   Instead of using any of the above stories or pictures, HuffPost instead chose to publish stories that it deemed were of far greater importance for its global readers to be aware of than the truth behind LtC Harari's assassination.
   

For example, in Section 1, you'll see that on August 5, the U.S. State Department issued a press release, calling the assassination of LtC Harari "completely unjustified," and an expose' was published by a prominent watchdog site, documenting the fact that major media (including the New York Times) were taking a second look at this entire incident. But in Section 2, you'll see that HuffPost ignored all of these stories, and instead decided to devote its front page to stories such as:

• Man used spray bottle in "semen attack" on woman
• What Michelle Obama wore today
• Actress "channels" dead actress for new hairdo
• Celebrity trash talk

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(1) The stories and pictures that HuffPost could have run or cited, which told the shocking truth of Lebanon's aggression, and murder of LtC Harari --- but chose not to

The following articles were found by doing nothing more than:

• A basic Google search "Lebanon tree border Harari"
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• Reviewing well-known, Israel-supporting watchdog sites, particularly Richard Landes/The Augean Stables, Honest Reporting, and Mere Rhetoric

Given HuffPost's crack team of 53 full-time, paid "editors," and how closely they have followed and updated stories in the past of alleged Israeli wrongdoing (right up to the point when the facts exonerate the Jewish state), they clearly have the ability to follow and publicize a story --- when they wants to.

Here are some of the stories that were published from August 3 through 7, which tell the real story of Lebanon's aggression, and its assassination of LtC Harari.

AUGUST 3 stories and pictures that HuffPost ignored:

Israel National News provided a detailed account of what happened, and included several pictures of of LtC Hariri:

IDF Lt.-Col. Killed, another Officer Badly Hurt in North

The IDF announced that Israel is holding Lebanon responsible for LtC Harari's assassination, and described in great detail why. "Israel holds the Lebanese government responsible for the grave incident, and warns of the consequences should these continue."

DebkaFile, a widely-acclaimed security analysis website:

Lt. Col. Dov Harari was killed by Lebanese snipers
Excerpt: Maj. Gen. Eisencott described the incident, the most serious since the end of the 2006 war with Hizballah, as follows: At around noon Tuesday, Israeli forces were cutting down small trees near Kibbutz Misgav Am on our side of the border. "Their officers were watching the work from a forward command post 200-300 meters behind the border when all of a sudden Lebanese forces suddenly started shooting without any sort of provocation."

YNetNews, which HuffPost regularly cites, reported the White House sent condolences to LTC Harari's family.

A one-man blog, Mere Rhetoric, published a detailed article containing substantive indications that Lebanon ambushed and murdered LtC Harari --- and that Reuters was playing along with Lebanese lie:

After Lebanon Border Ambush, Reuters First Out Of The Gate With Demonstrably False Anti-Israel Propaganda
Excerpt: This post is about how Reuters is again using their viciously anti-Israel stringers to dishonestly try to blame the violence on Israel. It’s a pitch-perfect repeat of their Jihad Flotilla performance, when they and the rest of the MSM used the early hours after the incident to valorize the ostensibly unarmed activists who turned out to be death-worshiping terrorists. Knowing the now-confirmed facts that you know, see if you can spot what’s wrong with this Reuters caption:

AUGUST 4 stories and pictures that HuffPost ignored:

Haaretz, a news source that HuffPost regularly cites, ran two stories on the murder of LtC Harari, including pictures of him and his funeral:

Dov Harari 'Only Knew How To Give
Excerpt: A friend of Harari's, Tamir Ganot, said Harari "always liked to help others, whether it was hammering a nail, fixing a closet, putting up a screen. He would always help the less fortunate, kindergartens, elderly women. He only knew how to give."

Family of IDF officer killed in border clash: He insisted on doing reserve duty
Excerpt: Shimon, a family friend, said that "There was nobody like [Dov], a man that helped children and poor people, volunteered for everything, modest, humble and shy. He volunteered for reserve duty and loved Israel and the IDF, there was nobody like him. It's impossible to describe the loss. Head and shoulders above the rest, so loved."

Pajamas Media published a detailed article by noted blogger Richard Landes, describing in more detail the fact that this was no accident, but a premeditated assassination:

Israeli Officers Ambushed on Northern Border
Excerpt: [A]ccording to Israeli sources, there was an ambush. Rather than fire in the air and then at the allegedly trespassing soldiers, Lebanese troops fired at a group of officers standing off to the side of the incident and not even over the fence. They killed a reserve lieutenant colonel and badly injured a reserve captain. Israel responded with light weapons fire, artillery, and a helicopter gunship, killing three Lebanese troops and one journalist. When the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF) asked for a cease-fire to evacuate their dead, which Israel granted, they took advantage of the lull to fire an RPG at an Israeli tank.

Honest Reporting published a detailed report, Special Alert: Media Collusion in Lebanon Ambush, which exposed:

• Details on the ambush
• A graphic showing the approximate position of the IDF
  
• How AP and Reuters photographers were drawn to the area by Lebanon, which indicated something newsworthy was about to happen.
  
• The fact that both the AP and Reuters published false accounts of the incident, repeating the Lebanese narrative without analysis

AUGUST 5 stories that HuffPost ignored:

The U.S. State Department issued a statement claiming the shooting of LtC Harari, which triggered this firefight, was "completely unjustified."

Honest Reporting updated its original story to show that the New York Times was issuing corrections to indicate the original story and accompanying pictures were wrong, and that Sky News began questioning "how it was that so many journalists and photographers happened to be at the scene."

AUGUST 6 stories that HuffPost ignored:

The Washington Post, which HuffPost routinely cites for news, ran this editorial by Israeli Ambassador Michael Oren:

At the crossroads to peace and war in the Middle East
Excerpt (emphasis added): (I)n an attack this week characterized by State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley as "wholly unjustified and unwarranted," Lebanese snipers shot and killed an Israeli commander, a father of four, who was overseeing routine tree-pruning maintenance on Israel's side of the northern border. A second officer was seriously wounded. Although the maintenance work was fully coordinated with the U.N. peacekeeping force in southern Lebanon, and the fatal shot was fired by the nominally independent Lebanese Armed Forces, Hassan Nasrallah, the head of Hezbollah, sent a television crew to film the ambush. He applauded the murder as a "heroic confrontation" and threatened to "cut off the arm" of Lebanon's enemies, ostensibly by firing his Iranian- and Syrian-supplied arsenal of more than 42,000 rockets at Israeli cities and towns.

The Sydney Morning-Herald (Australia) published an article with the most direct accusation yet against Lebanon:

Lebanese commander ordered sniper attack
Excerpt: Senior Lebanese army commanders planned and authorised the cross-border shooting on Tuesday that killed an Israel Defence Forces colonel who was supervising the removal of a tree within Israeli territory, the Lebanese press has reported.The acknowledgement came at a United Nations-brokered meeting between Major-General Abdul Rahman Chehaitly of the Lebanese army and a senior Israeli officer on Wednesday.The Lebanese newspaper As-Safir reported that General Chehaitly told the meeting the shooting was the result of a command decision and could be repeated.

The Jerusalem Post, which HuffPost cites on a regular basis:

'Israel demands LAF court-martial'
Excerpt: The Israeli government has requested that Lebanon court-martial the commander of the Lebanese unit that fired at IDF troops across the border in a deadly confrontation that occurred earlier in the week, Army Radio quoted from the Lebanese newspaper An-Nahar on Friday. [...] The report also said Israel threatened that if the issue was not handled satisfactorily the IDF would then view the Lebanese Armed Forces along the border as an enemy force and the IDF would respond to any future attacks with "an aggressive response without precedent."

Haaretz, which HuffPost cites on a regular basis:

'We've been serving on the border to be under Barry'
Excerpt: "Barry was a giving person, and we sometimes would say that he gives too much and does too much for other people, that he should focus more on his family," Lily Meyerson, the aunt, said. She recalled one incident in which her nephew invited a stranded motorcyclist to his hardware shop, where he fixed the moped for him and refused to accept payment. Helen Naaman, Dov Harari's sister, stayed behind after the funeral to talk to a group of soldiers who served under her brother. "We've been serving on the border to be under Barry," one of the men told her. "He was the reason we were there."

Pajamas Media published a detailed article by noted blogger Richard Landes:

What the World Isn’t Being Told about the Israeli-Lebanese Border Incident
Excerpt: Despite the careful “he said … she said” approach of the mainstream news media about the clash along the Lebanese-Israeli border this week, events are quite clear: Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) were deliberately ambushed by Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF). [...] The IDF had notified the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) of its intentions and complied with multiple requests to delay a routine job that should have started early in the morning and didn’t get going till midday. [...] But no sooner did they put a man in the unit and lift him over the fence than a sniper shot and killed the commanding officer of the unit who was away from the border and observing from a distance. Despite claiming they fired first in the air, and that Israel initiated the hostilities, an LAF spokesman eventually asserted their right “to defend Lebanon’s sovereignty.”

The Daily Caller published this article by Dr. Walid Phares, a scholar with the Foundation for Defense of Democracies:

The Lebanon border and Hezbollah’s war footing
Excerpt: The incident started near the village of Adaisse, along the demarcation line. What is clear is that Lebanese forces fired first. Lebanon’s military spokespersons claimed an Israeli patrol crossed the border, prompting the Lebanese army to push the patrol back. Israel says its soldiers didn’t cross the international border; they were trimming a tree overlooking the blue line. The United Nations Interim Forces in Lebanon (UNIFIL) has since confirmed that the tree was located on Israel’s side of the border. [...] In the final analysis, Nasrallah has signaled to international community that yesterday’s exchange of fire was just the beginning. Indeed, he can single-handedly trigger a war between Israel and Lebanon.

StandPoint:

The Thin Blue Line
Excerpt: (T)he (IDF) crew's exact position, even north of the fence, was still about 200-300 meters south of the Blue Line, as has now been confirmed by UNIFIL. [...] (O)ne LAF spokesman cited by the Lebanese daily newspaper An-Nahar admitted that his army did indeed take aim against the Israelis, but only ‘to defend Lebanon's sovereignty.' Diplomatically, Beirut has struck a defiant posture. Following the clash, President Michael Suleiman entreated the LAF and the entire nation to ‘stand up to Israel's violation of Resolution 1701, whatever the price', a threat that some international observers have feared could draw both countries into another devastating war.

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(2) The stories that HuffPost chose to run on its front page and World page, from August 4 onward, instead of any of those listed in (1)

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AUGUST 4: HuffPost's FRONT PAGE (top-to-bottom)

How many of these stories do you judge to be more important to feature on HuffPost's front page, than to correct its original, incorrect version of the Lebanon-Israeli border firefight story, which it removed from its front page today? "Highlights":

• Dog eats man's toe, saves his life
• Bad yearbook photos
• Rudy Giuliani's daughter arrested for shoplifting
• Embarrassing yearbook photos
  
• The dress Hillary Clinton wore to Chelsae's wedding

AUGUST 4: HuffPost's WORLD PAGE (top-to-bottom)

HuffPost published the update to the original, incorrect version of the story, on its World Page, but mid-way down the page (fourth frame). Here are some of the stories that HuffPost decided were far more important for its global readers to be aware of, than the fact that despite earlier accounts, Lebanon murdered an IDF officer. "Highlights":

• An elephant's injured foot
• Indications that Winston Churchill believed in UFOs
• A parasailing donkey
• A Russian artist who can paint with her breast
  

AUGUST 5: HuffPost's FRONT PAGE (excerpts)

By now, HuffPost had removed the story of the Lebanon-Israel firefight from both its front page and its World page. So what stories did it decide were more important to publish here, than to "ferret out the truth, consequences be damned" about the incident, and Lebanon's assassination of LtC Harari? "Highlights":

• Man used spray bottle in "semen attack" on woman
• What Michelle Obama wore today
• Actress "channels" dead actress for new hairdo
• Nazi-naming parents
• Most beautiful college campuses
• Celebrity trash talk
  

AUGUST 5: HuffPost's WORLD PAGE (top-to-bottom)

What stories did it decide were more important to publish here, than to "ferret out the truth, consequences be damned" about the Lebanon incident, and its assassination of LtC Harari? "Highlights":

• Winston Churchill ordered UFO cover-up (HuffPost kept this story published on its World page straight through August 11 --- yet made no further mention of LtC Harari, or Lebanon's aggression)
• Elephant's injured foot (ditto)
• Artist who paints with her nipple (carried through to at least August 8)
  
• Chinese prostitutes want brothels legalized
• Parasailing donkey

AUGUST 7: HuffPost's FRONT PAGE (excerpts)

"Highlights":

• A little girl's lemonade stand
• Color photos from the Great Depression
• Michael Phelps is angry

AUGUST 8: HuffPost's WORLD PAGE (excerpts)

"Highlights" of what HuffPost decided was more important than LtC Harari's assassination:

• Elephant's injured foot (carried through since August 5)
• Artist who paints with her nipple (carried through since August 5)
• China goes crazy for "holy dogs"
  

AUGUST 9: HuffPost's FRONT PAGE (excerpts)

"Highlights" of what HuffPost decided was more important than LtC Harari's assassination:

• Ridiculous car hoods
  
• China goes crazy for "holy dogs" (Tibetian Mastiffs), from yesterday
  

AUGUST 11: HuffPost's WORLD PAGE (excerpts)

"Highlights" of what HuffPost decided was more important than LtC Harari's assassination:

• Elephant's injured foot (carried through since August 5; click here to see that on the left, the "Just Posted" article was, indeed, on Aug. 11)
• Winston Churchill ordered UFO cover-up (carried through since August 5)

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ACTION ITEMS

If you share our view that HuffPost's actions in regard to this story --- and its pattern of anti-Israel, anti-Semitic bias --- are reprehensible, we urge you to do two things:

(1) Forward the link to this story along to others who support Israel

(2) Make your voice known to HuffPost's senior management (politely, please), here. You may even ask them:

• If HuffPost's advertisers are aware of its pathological bias against Israel
• How HuffPost would like it if pro-Israel activists organized a "Move Your Advertising" campaign against it, similar to the "Move Your Money" campaign that Ms. Huffington concocted against big banks, which she's hawked throughout 2010 (1, 2, 3, 4, 5)

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