The author is co-founder and co-director of the Coalition for Black and Jewish Unity.
By Mark Jacobs
The 18th/19th century Prussian General, Baron von Clausewitz, is credited with coining the phrase “the fog of war”, a reference to how wars can become “wrapped in a fog of uncertainty” and quickly escalate into a much larger conflict.
The current conflict in the Middle East fits the exact scenario Clausewitz envisioned over 200 years ago. Tensions are peaking, the hostages are still being captive, citizens in Gaza are suffering, battlefronts are expanding, and no real solution even seems within reach. In such a dangerous scenario, the media’s responsibility to provide fair and accurate reporting becomes absolutely essential.
Last week the Detroit Free Press woefully failed in that responsibility. In an article about Israel’s recent pager operation in Lebanon, “Lebanese Americans in Michigan mourn deaths, injuries in Lebanon pager attacks," The Freep published an obvious anti-Israel op-ed piece and attempted to disguise it as a news story through egregious omissions and slight of hand. In doing so, it breaks the cardinal rule of journalism - getting the facts straight, getting the complete story right.
The ‘news’ article by veteran reporter Niraj Warikoo begins:
"Lebanese Americans in Michigan are in mourning this week after a series of attacks over two days in Lebanon involving pagers and walkie talkies led to 32 deaths and more than 3,000 injuries, one of the deadliest attacks in the Middle Eastern nation over the past year."
If you read this story, at least for the first 9 paragraphs, you’d have no clue the attack had any link to Hezbollah, a Lebanese militia the U.S. classifies as a terrorist organization.
In fact, it is not until the 10th paragraph that Mr. Warikoo first mentions Hezbollah. And even then, his story fails to spell out clearly that the pagers and walkie talkies were assigned to Hezbollah members.
He writes:
"Several media reports have said Israel's security and intelligence operations committed the attacks as part of its battle against Hezbollah, a political party and militant group in Lebanon labeled a terrorist organization by the U.S."
I might note that in the first published version of his story, the reporter only refers to Hezbollah as “a group based in Lebanon.”
Then as an added insult to good journalism, and those who care about facts, the article says, “Israel has primarily targeted Shias,” suggesting a religious bias is involved in the battle between Israel and Hezbollah.
Truth is, members of Hezbollah are Shia Muslim, and Israel has been locked in battle with Hezbollah, not the Lebanese government, ever since it first attacked Israel in solidarity with Hamas on Oct. 8, one day after Hamas invaded Israel and savagely murdered about 1,200 people and kidnapped more than 200 people, including American citizens. Yes, Israel has struck back in response.
To give some credit, the reporter does add this context in the 11th paragaph of the updated version of his story:
"Since Hamas' Oct. 7 attacks on Israel, Israel and Hezbollah have swapped near-daily strikes as the militant group has rallied to support Hamas, its ally in Gaza. Tens of thousands of Israelis who live near Lebanon's border have evacuated amid the exchanges."
The original version did not contain that, and I'm assuming it was added only after readers complained. Afterall, the latest version contains this: "This story was updated to add important context."
Make no mistake, the premise of the article is fine. Lebanese people in Metro Detroit are in mourning and angry at Israel over its tactics. The Free Press should report on how the war impacts this region. People can decide how to react after reading factual, objective stories.
But there should be some context: In this case, there is no mention of how the latest conflict with Hezbollah started, or that its manifesto states that "our struggle will end only when this entity [Israel] is obliterated", or its role as Iran’s largest and most weaponized surrogate, or its authoritarian grip on Lebanese society. None of that. Instead, from the get-go it’s evident that this was going to be nothing more than another hit piece against Israel.
There is no real attempt to educate the reader about Hezbollah, who in 1983 murdered 241 U.S. service members. The U.S. government accuses Hezbollah of being behind terrorist attacks around the world and “large scale criminal schemes, including sophisticated money laundering, smuggling and trafficking.”
For the last 20 years it has fired thousands of rockets into Israel. It eagerly jumped into the Gaza conflict by bombarding northern Israel with short range missions, causing 60,000 Israeli’s to vacate their homes.
What does appear in the article is a series of inflammatory quotes from a Wayne County officer (of Lebanese descent), a Dearborn attorney (Lebanese descent) and a local Imam. Their tirade of words against Israel include such dandies as “barbarism”, “mass slaughter”, “evil”, “inhumane”, “crime against humanity”, brutality and, of course, “genocide”.
If one wasn’t aware of Hezbollah’s history, they would get the impression that Israel's latest operation had no context and its only objective was to hurt the Lebanese people.
The Free Press is the oldest daily newspaper in Michigan. It proudly proclaims that it is “On Guard” to its readers. But last week, sadly, it revealed that it was on guard against objective and responsible journalism.
