Flipping the Script on Israel’s Killing of Nasrallah

What if it had been Netanyahu? Jonathan Cook offers a mock report, modeled on how Western media treated the killing of Hezbollah’s longtime leader.

By Jonathan Cook
Jonathan-Cook.net

Western journalists claim to report the news objectively and fairly. If they really did, this is what coverage of Netanyahu’s assassination might look like…

Headline: Benjamin Netanyahu reported dead after massive strike on Tel Aviv

By News Agencies

Tel Aviv (Sept 27) – Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel’s longtime strongman, was killed in an air strike on Israel’s largest city on Monday, using powerful bunker-busting bombs.

The Lebanese group Hezbollah confirmed the strike was in retaliation for a series of terrorist attacks by Israel in recent weeks.

According to reports, Hezbollah tracked Netanyahu down to an underground war room in Israel’s defence ministry building in central Tel Aviv. It was from this location that he had been directing attacks that killed hundreds of people in Lebanon over the past two weeks, including many women and children.

A handful of generals were believed to have died in the blast alongside the controversial Israeli prime minister.

Analysts called Hezbollah’s carefully planned operation an audacious move that would likely prove a severe military setback for Israel.

Emergency services struggled to cope as six massive blasts tore through the HaKirya ministry and several neighbouring buildings on Monday.

The Azrieli shopping mall, next to HaKirya, was completely destroyed. Some 284 people were killed, according to early reports from Israel’s Zionist-controlled health ministry. News agencies were unable to independently verify the figures.

But the timing of the attack, in the middle of the morning, means there could potentially be many hundreds of shoppers trapped under rubble. The death toll may not be clear for days, or even weeks.

Middle East experts said there were concerns that the Hezbollah strike might heighten tensions in the region and lead to an escalation in fighting.

A series of lethal moves by Hezbollah over recent days had already sowed confusion among senior cadres of Israel’s IDF, a proxy of the United States that is designated a terrorist organisation by governments across the Middle East.

In one of the most sophisticated operations, Hezbollah is believed to have been behind the booby-trapping of hundreds of cars used by IDF soldiers. Dozens were left dead and thousands more injured, as they drove on Israeli roads. Bystanders and family members were also among those killed.

Hezbollah appears to have managed to plant the detonators inside the car’s engines after infiltrating international supply chains. The cars were imported from Taiwan but originated from a shadowy company operating out of Kuwait.

Bezalel Smotrich, Israel’s finance minister and leader of the self-declared fascist Religious Zionist party, vowed to rain down on Lebanon “a biblical revenge.”

Smotrich is among the leading contenders to replace Netanyahu.

Officials in Beirut said Hezbollah would continue its attacks on Israel until the IDF had been “completely eliminated.”

A spokesperson said:

“The IDF has been carrying out terrorist attacks for decades, including what the International Court of Justice [ICJ] has declared a ‘plausible’ genocide in Gaza. Israel is the lynchpin of a US-funded network of global terror.”

The official added:

“Institutions like the United Nations have failed time and again to meaningfully hold Israel to account for the threat it poses to the region. Peace can be secured only by exacting a heavy price on the Israeli leadership. We must escalate to de-escalate.”

Iran said the strike on Tel Aviv was a “measure of justice,” given how many civilians across the Middle East Netanyahu was responsible for killing.

The Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said he had been “working tirelessly” for a ceasefire, but added that Israel and the US were obstructing efforts to reach an agreement.

Last week Tehran approved a further $8.7 billion worth of arms to Hezbollah, saying it had a right defend itself from Israeli terrorism.

Iranian officials, meanwhile, accused the U.S. of smuggling weapons to the IDF, and helping it build a formidable network of missile-launch sites and fighter-jet squadrons.

Israeli war planes have been violating Lebanon’s air space with regular overflights for decades, in what experts say are war crimes.

Hezbollah has repeatedly stated that a halt to its conflict with Israel is possible only when Israel obeys international law and withdraws from the Palestinian territories it has been illegally occupying for more than half a century.

Additionally, Hezbollah has said Israel must stop its bombardment of south Lebanon, which has driven some 100,000 Lebanese from their homes over the past year.

In a ruling earlier this year, the ICJ’s judges concluded that Israel’s occupation of the Palestinian territories was an illegal act of aggression against the Palestinian people that must end immediately. It has also put Israel on trial for genocide in Gaza.

Before his death, Netanyahu had been accused of corruption and fraud. However, given Israel’s deeply compromised legal and political systems, he had managed to stay in power and evade a proper trial for years.

Jonathan Cook is an award-winning British journalist. He was based in Nazareth, Israel, for 20 years. He returned to the U.K. in 2021.He is the author of three books on the Israel-Palestine conflict: Blood and Religion: The Unmasking of the Jewish State (2006), Israel and the Clash of Civilisations: Iraq, Iran and the Plan to Remake the Middle East (2008) and Disappearing Palestine: Israel’s Experiments in Human Despair (2008). If you appreciate his articles, please consider offering your financial support. 

This article is from the author’s blog, Jonathan Cook.net.

The views expressed are solely those of the author and may or may not reflect those of Consortium News.

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