Winning the Media War

This past Saturday there was a "peace" rally in downtown Toronto and while I tried to make some sort of commitment to myself to make my blog not become a political forum I am writing now because seeing Hizbollah and Iranian flags at a "peace" rally seemed a little odd to me. What offended me and made me realize that this was not actually a "peace" rally was when I saw the picture of a group of people burning the Israeli flag in front of the US embassy. If you are going to behave in such a way please do not pretend this is a "peace" rally, but call it what it is- an Anti-Israel rally. I've been to two rallys thus far supporting Israel- and I can assure you beyond a doubt that there were no flags of any country walked all over, torn up or burned. It is disgusting behaviour and it is even more insulting to the general public that these protesters pretend as their rally is anything more then an Anti-Israel rally.
August 14, 2006 marked the official start of the UN brokered ceasefire in Lebanon. The following are excerpts from various news articles that I've read which I find important for you all to read, whether you agree or not, this is the reality or how the International community and media failed not only Israel but Western morality and values.

With regards to the massacre at Qana:
"The Israeli bombardment took place about midnight, but the house where the civilians were gathered reportedly did not collapse until 8AM. Brigadier General Amir Eshel of the Israeli air force comments: 'It is difficult for me to believe that they waited 8 hours to evacuate.' Indeed, it strains credulity that not only did these Lebanese civilians remain in the house that had been bombed for 8 hours, but peacefully went to sleep in it after the bombing- since the victims were all apparently sleeping, depsite continuing Israeli bombardment in the area, when the building collapsed." Robert Spencer- FrontPageMagazine.com Aug. 2, 2006
"The very existence of [pictures from Qana] raises more questions. As Israel Insider put it: 'While Hezbollah and its apologists have been claiming that civilians could not freely flee the scene due to Israeli destruction of bridges and roads, the journalists and rescue teams from nearby Tyre had no problem getting there." Robert Spencer- FrontPageMagazine.com
"According to the German scholar Matthias Kuntzel, 'the Berlin daily the Tagesspiegel published a letter-to-the-editor from Dr. Mounir Herzallah, a Shiite from the South of Lebanon. Dr. Herzallah reports on how Hezbollah terrorists came to his town, dug a munitions depot and then built a school and residence directly over it. He writes: 'Laughing, a local sheikh explained to me that the Jews lose either way: either because the rockets fired at them or because, if they attack munitions depot, they are condemned by world public opinion on account of dead civilians.' Hezbollah, he says uses the civilian population 'as a human shield and then when they are dead as propoganda." Robert Spencer

In regard to the Hezbollah victory:
"It is hard to see what Hezbollah gained on the battlefield. Hundreds of its best fighters were killed and several dozen more were taken prisoner.... Hezbollah's Beirut headquarters was utterly demolished... All this amounts to 'victory' for Hezbollah only if winning is defined as sending a bunch of Israelis to the grave at any cost." National Post August 14, 2006

"When it comes to the game of numbers and perception, there is another screaming fallacy in the coverage of issues. Until just a few days ago, the foreign media announced every Lebanese fatality as a civilian death. This would mean that the Israeli military is so incompetent and so evil that it had failed to kill a single Hezbollah fighter. The truth, of course, is that heavily armed Jihadists were being eliminated from the first day of combat. Unlike Israeli soldiers, however they often wear no uniform and normally have no rank, papers or official status." Michael Coren

"Then there are the apparently unacceptable questions. Why, for example, do we see so many pictures of horribly wounded even dying Arabs but so few Israelis who have been smashed apart by rockets filled with ball bearings? The answer is that Israeli officials shield the wounded and vulnerable to protect them from indignity. Hezbollah and Hamas operatives, on the other hand, positively welcome often appallingly intimate shots of their wounded." Michael Coren

"But that's the problem: This is exactly how Hezbollah and many of its Arab supporters feel. They are willing to forsake everything-- even knock Lebanon's economic and political development back a decade or more-- in order to prosecute their nihilistic anti-Israeli bloodlust." National Post August 14, 2006

"Welcome to the Middle East, where the power of smoke and mirrors often works better then reality"- Gerald Steinberg