The Third Cana Massacre: Why Is Israel Exaggerating?

The village of Qana in southern Lebanon was massacred by the Israeli army for the third time. As in 1996 and 2006, the Western press coldly accepts the death of dozens of civilians in this village. "This means that for the racist Western media, Zionist lives are precious, and Arabs are seen as subhuman beings to be covered only when death rates set new records," writes journalist and author Robert Inlakesh.

In 1996, Israeli artillery directly targeted a United Nations facility in the village of Qana, where about 800 Lebanese had taken refuge. At least 106 civilians, as well as four UN peacekeepers, were killed and around 120 injured in the attack.

Last week, Israeli military forces launched a series of airstrikes on the village of Qana in southern Lebanon. Experts called this event the "Third Khana Massacre".

At least 10 people were killed and 15 injured in the Israeli bombardment, although it is not the most severe situation that the Lebanese have experienced in recent times, but it is more correct to say that it is a continuation of the massacre committed by the Zionists. The most brutal crimes were committed in 1982 and after. At that time, Israel killed about 20,000 civilians in Lebanon.

However, the most terrible crime that will not fade from the memory of the entire Arab world took place in the Sabra and Shatila refugee camps.

After Israel forced Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) fighters to flee Lebanon to Tunisia, refugee camps across the country were left vulnerable and mostly women and children.

Meanwhile, under the control of the occupying Zionists, their allied Falanga militia invaded the Sabra and Shatila camps and brutally killed around 3,500 innocent people.

Israel has denied any knowledge of the incident, calling accusations of its involvement in the massacre "vicious slander" and "anti-Semitism" before evidence emerged that its soldiers were watching the incident and even opened fire on the camp.

However, the Lebanese cannot forget another recent massacre - the legacy of the Qana massacre.

In 1996, Israeli artillery directly targeted a United Nations facility in the village of Qana, where about 800 Lebanese had taken refuge. As a result of the attack, at least 106 civilians, as well as four UN peacekeepers, were killed and about 120 others were injured.

The attack was carried out by Israel and a Zionist "puppet" force known as the South Lebanon Army (SLA). Israel spread false information about the presence of Hezbollah members at the UN facility, an allegation that was later found to be unfounded.

In 2006, Israel committed a bloody massacre known as the Second Qana Massacre. At least 31 civilians - almost half of them children - were killed in the airstrikes. Even at that time, the sad images of children injured by Israeli bombings aroused the anger of the international community.

Even then, the leaders of the Jewish state did not try to deceive the international community by saying that there were Hezbollah fighters in the targeted area, and the media assumed that the bodies of the babies shown on live broadcasts were "exhumed from the cemetery to smear Israel." Obviously, this was also an insult to the oppressed people of Qana.

It is worth mentioning that even in 2006, Israel "came out dry" and went unpunished, killing twice as many innocent Lebanese as before.

Western media, led by the United States, paid more attention to the four Israeli soldiers killed in a drone strike on a military base than to the entire civilian population killed in Lebanon.

The fact that they stand on the side of the real occupiers, issue mournful messages, show pictures of Zionist soldiers and read their names on the air confirms that such news sources are in fact functioning as the corporate public relations department of the Israeli army.

Sky News and Canada's National Post described the soldiers as "teenagers". However, all of them were 19 years old and considered adults by law because they were members of Israel's elite military brigade.

Israel is dropping tons of explosives on heavily populated areas in Lebanon without proving the presence of Hezbollah. The "eyes" of the West are not seeing the real picture, their "ears" are not hearing the truth. Muslims who are being killed by fascists are depicted as a violation of human rights in their eyes.

Ironically, had this massacre occurred during another conflict, it would certainly have grabbed the headlines.

So, the Western corporate media is acting according to what we might call the "Arab standard" for the nearly 17,000 murdered babies in Gaza. The "Israeli standard" consists of providing sad information about the death of invaders in military bases.

This means that for the racist Western media, Zionist lives are precious, and Arabs are seen as subhuman beings to be covered only when death rates set new records.

Robert Inlakesh, journalist and author