Joshua Frank responds to Ran HaCohen’s thoughts on the Hezbollah capture of two Israeli soldiers:
First I should say thanks to Ran HaCohen and Antiwar.com for posting a response to my piece, “Kidnapped in Israel or Captured in Lebanon,” which attempted to raise the question of whether or not Israel’s story that Hezbollah entered Israel and captured two soldiers was indeed accurate or not.
From my own research on the issue of where the Israeli soldiers were actually captured, I’ve come away with a few things. First, my main point in my original post was to bring this issue to light, not spread a conspiracy theory. Second, I really think that the reports on both sides should raise alarm — for neither proves anything concretely.
I am on the fence myself and not convinced one way or another as to where the soldiers were actually captured by Hezbollah soldiers. One thing is a fact, however: the original story (i.e., the AP) changed everywhere after Israeli military released their statement.
If one reads most every story written about the incident in question, most outlets initially quoted “Lebanon Police,” but failed to use their quotes after Israel released their official statement sometime later. So really, it seems this all boils down to the IDF version vs. Lebanon Police.
Hezbollah’s early communiqués seem to validate the Lebanon Police account, but Hassan Nasrallah and Hezbollah officials have not officially released a statement as of this writing. From the few contacts I have with people close to Hezbollah and in Lebanon, the organization purportedly refutes the official Israeli version, i.e., the rumor that there was the use of a ladder, etc. But they seem to insist they in fact provoked the attack but captured the soldiers in Lebanon. Who really knows at this point? I’d like to see Hezbollah come forward to tell their side. But I certainly would never say that the Israeli version is in any way trustworthy in the interim. Time, hopefully, will tell all.
Like I noted above, I think we all need to keep in mind that there hasn’t been a war waged in the past 60 years that did not use lies and propaganda to seduce the public. Why would Israel’s latest invasion of Lebanon be any different?