Abstraction vs. murder

I was in Lebanon last year just around this time. I was at the airport that has now been bombed by Israel. I visited the refugee camp of Ain al-Hilweh which Israel has attacked. I was in Beirut neighbourhoods where Israeli jets are maiming and killing people as I type these words.

Hell, people are being murdered by their own governments or somebody else's or their own church or somebody else's or their own mercernaries or somebody else's all the time, all over the world. So why focus on this case? Other than the extremely subjective fact that this all seems more real to me because I've actually been there, and more personal to me because I've met people who are being affected (if not wounded or killed) right now, I'm angry at the double standards of Western corporate reporting on the Middle East.

On Israel's current aerial invasion of Lebanon, Meris Lutz of The Daily Star (Lebanon) writes, "'Israeli attacks have been barbaric. We have one killed for every two wounded,'" Health Minister Mohammad Khalifeh told a press conference Friday, the death toll mounting even as he spoke.

"As the sun set over Beirut, the ground trembled from repeated Israeli strikes against the capital's Southern suburbs, and by 8 p.m. the total number of deaths had reached at least 73 as Israel continued its onslaught."

The Telugu Portal writes, "Beirut/Tel Aviv, July 15 (DPA) Israel continued its concerted assault against Lebanon Saturday, attacking areas and infrastructure in its northern neighbour as Hezbollah guerrillas carried on firing rockets at the Jewish state in defiance of a call by Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Seniora for an immediate ceasefire.

"The latest Israeli attacks brought the death toll in Lebanon to close to 90 people. At least 20 people were killed in southern Lebanon when an Israeli missile struck their minibus setting it ablaze. The casualties included a number of children, Lebanese sources said. Meanwhile, Israeli first aid officials said 58 people were wounded and others were suffering from shock as a result of the nearly 60 missiles that landed in northern parts of the country Saturday."