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Michael Widlanski teaches political communication at the Rothberg
School of Hebrew University. His doctorate, "Palestinian Broadcast Media in the Palestinian State-Building process: Patterns of Influence and
Control," was based on eight years of research involving more than 7,000 hours of monitoring Palestinian radio in Arabic as well as television and
newspaper surveys.
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By Michael Widlanski
August 1, 2006
Hezbollah launched a series of battlefield victories today in its own press releases, but there seemed little sign of them on the battlefield, as Israeli infantry and armor begin to fan out in the southern Lebanese area south of the Litani River.
"In the name of God the compassionate, the merciful, If you return, then we will return, and hell is their hell, for the infidels," announced Al-Manar television, Hezbollah's propaganda arm, in a special late morning bulletin.
"After violent confrontations between the Zionist forces in Kafr Kila region and strugglers of the Islamic Resistance, the force (Zionists), under the fire of the resistance, was forced to return to the border," continued the Hezbollah announcer.
Hezbollah also announced last night that it had sunk another Israeli "Saar 4.5-class" missile boat, but Israel denies the claim, and there is no evidence to prove it.
Nevertheless, Hezbollah continued to proclaim that it had sunk the Israeli missile boat, though there were no pictures of the sinking.
Buoyed by its own press releases, film clips and the alleged Israeli "massacre" of Lebanese in Kana two days ago, Hezbollah is beginning to make increasingly questionable erroneous battlefield claims.
Two weeks ago, Hezbollah successfully struck a Saar-5 missile boat, killing four Israelis, but the ship was brought back to base under its own power, repaired and returned to service.
Hezbollah also continues to show footage purporting to show the shooting-down of an Israeli fighter jet, when, in fact, it was the premature misfiring of an Iranian-made Zilzal missile, set off by an Israeli bomb.
There are also increasing questions about the Hezbollah and Lebanese government claims that Israel killed scores of Lebanese civilians two days ago in aerial bombing in Kana, for several reasons:
--Hizballah claimed 56 Lebanese civilians were killed, even before bodies had been recovered;
--In fact, fewer than half were discovered (27 bodies up to this point) have been removed from the wreckage, and there is no explanation for the discrepancy;
--There is no apparent explanation for the absence of blood at the site as well as the absence of wounded from the building collapse; the Israeli airforce has film that shows that the building was struck by bombs more than eight hours before its reported collapse.
The use of bogus "atrocity stories" against the Israeli military is a common theme in Palestinian propaganda, such as claims of a massacre of civilians in Jenin in 2002 (which was investigated and proven false), but it also includes staged "media events" such as "injured" men on stretchers who later walk away when cameras are turned off.
Views expressed by the author do not
necessarily reflect those of israelinsider.
 
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