Here's what I thought you'd like to hear about today:

1. Is Israel Deliberately Not Removing the Rockets from Lebanon? - What Thomas Ricks Claims
2. British Media Bias against Israel - Sympathy for Hezbollah
3. Does Hezbollah have an Influence on Reporters? -When they threaten to kill them?

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Is Israel Deliberately Not Removing Katusha's?

That was the accusation of Thomas Ricks on Howard Kurt's Reliable Sources Sunday. As Betsey Newmark at Betsy's Page noted:

Thomas Ricks' Emily Litella moment

Thomas Ricks has been getting lots of media attention for his book, Fiasco. However, he should be getting as much attention for this accusation that he made on CNN on Sunday. (go to CAMERA.org for the video) He went on Howard Kurtz's Reliable Sources and made the astounding accusation that the Israelis are deliberately not destroying Katyusha launchers because they feel that having rockets rain down on their country gives them some moral advantage in world opinion.

I'm going to play the clip from Sunday's show that Betsy refers to now.

Play clip.

Betsy goes on to consider this exchange.

Just ponder how contemptible the Israelis would be if they were risking their own citizens being injured or killed just to garner some benefit in world opinion - which is never going to favor them anyway. Think of the worldview that the Washington Post Pentagon correspondent must have that he would publicly make such an accusation.

This is how CAMERA (The Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting in America) responded to Ricks,

One wonders who these “military analysts” are and why they have apparently not gone on the record. And why has Ricks so far not written the story in the Post? Can it be that his claims are too much even for the Washington Post to publish?

Whatever the reason, a reporter who thinks that Israel would intentionally allow Hezbollah’s Katyushas to rain down on Israeli civilians would believe anything about Israel, no matter how monstrous. And a reporter who believes that reserve Israeli soldiers would follow orders to not attack rockets that are aimed at their children and wives, and that these soldiers would not immediately go to the Israeli media with the story, is an idiot.

The fact is that Israeli soldiers are fighting and dying, going house to house in Lebanese villages that Hezbollah spent six years preparing as killing zones, to stop those rockets, while at the same time minimizing Lebanese civilian casualties. Hezbollah, on the other hand, has been reportedly forcing civilians to stay in the villages to create human shields. Mr. Ricks’ charge is therefore nothing short of obscene, and he should put up or shut up. Let him name his so called “military analysts,” and let him, as the Post’s Pentagon correspondent, explain why their views are persuasive and credible. If he can’t or won’t, he should publicly retract his claim and apologize.

So, we have this vicious accusation lying on the table from the newest media darling, the Washington Post correspondent. Pretty shocking and disgusting, right?

Well, as Emily Litella would have said, "Never mind." Ricks went on Hugh Hewitt's show last night and disavowed the whole accusation.

Here is the clip from Hugh's show that Betsy refers to.

Play clip.

Oops, never mind.

Now, note how he characterized the off-the-record conversations he had had with military analysts in his conversation with Hugh on Monday night. He makes it sound as if they were just hypothesizing as to what Israel might be doing and assessing whether or not it was a good idea for Israel to play roulette with their citizens' lives. He was quoting retired American officers just tossing around their theories in some off-the-record conversation. Now compare how he described the story to Howard Kurtz. There he makes it sound as if U.S. military analysts had determined that this was indeed what Israel was doing - not some hypothesis based on a Machiavellian analysis, but a tactic that these analysts had determined was actually going on. The difference is subtle, but crucial.

It makes you wonder how he might have played such similar subtle wording games with his book and his Pentagon reporting. Does he regularly turn what retired military analysts say when gaming out what might or might not be going on into something that sounds a lot more definitive when it comes out through his reporter's prism.

I think this is a shocking accusation and retraction. I wonder how widely Ricks is going to shout it from the rooftops that he made such a vile accusation erroneously. I'm cynical enough to believe that he'll feel that going on Hugh Hewitt's show is enough and we won't hear more about his Emily Litella moment.

For those who don't remember, Emily Litella was a character Gilda Radner played on Saturday Night Live, who used to come on the show for one rant or another, always based on a misunderstanding, and always end it by invoking her lame apology, "Never mind." One famous one was when she complained about the deaf penalty, and was informed that it was not a fee deaf people had to pay, but rather "death" penalty for criminals.

British Media Bias Against Israel

Bill at InDC pointed me to two clips on YouTube. The first one is Jon Snow, British Channel 4 newsman, interviewing the Israeli Deputy Ambassador to London on the Gaza response. This is from before the Hezbollah became involved, but after the Hamas terrorists kidnapped Israeli soldiers and rained iindiscriminant rocket fire down on Israeli citizens. The interviewer clearly gets the better of the poor ambassador, who can barely get a word in edgewise. But it does show how prevalent the anti-Israel sentiment is in the British press, where phrases like "collective punishment", and "Israeli Act of Terror" come ever so easily from the lips of these arrogant fools of the media. Thanks to YouTube for the video.

Play clip.

This one really got my blood boiling. At least until watched the second clip Bill points to from CNN International. Arrogance and terrorist sympathy is on display in the worst possible way. This one contains moral equivalence, proportionality, and acceptance of Hezbollah claims without question, while disputing every word out of the Israeli spokeswoman. Hang on to your seats, podcatchers.

Thanks to YouTube for this video also.

Play clip.

Does Hezbollah Influence Reporter's?

Also on Reliable Sources with Howard Kurtz was Richard Engel, as Charles Johnson at Little Green Footballs noticed. There is a question whether reporters can do unbiased reporting from Lebanon, what with Hezbollah all over the place. They give guided tours of carefully staged scenes of destruction. Are reporters able to be objective while a terrorist with an AK-47 is watching their every move? Listen to this clip where Richard Engel talks about covering Hezbollah and living to tell about it.

Play clip.

I have to say I admire the courage of these reporters to continue their work in close proximity to people who would just has soon kill them as allow them to report. But when you see material on TV, remember that the reporters are under the watchful eyes of the terrorists while they are reporting. It's not always as it appears.