The anti-Israel bias, cont’d.

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon’s report on Israel and Hezbullah illustrates perfectly what is wrong with the way that the world looks at any conflict that involves Israel.

A report released Thursday by United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon described Hezbollah as a threat to Middle East security, and called for both the Lebanese militant group and Israel to stop threatening each other through the media.

The report, sent to the members of the UN Security Council, also criticized Syria for allowing weapons smuggling to Lebanese militias.

Ban’s report indicates that Hezbollah continues to maintain a militia separate from the Lebanese government.

[…] “I therefore reiterate my call on Hezbollah to comply with all relevant Security Council resolutions, and urge all parties which maintain close ties with Hezbollah and have the ability to influence it, in particular Syria and Iran, to support its transformation into a political party proper,” it said.

The report also cited the “the urgency and importance of ensuring that the Government has the monopoly on the use of force in Lebanon.”

This is all well and good. The report calls Hezbollah out for being in violation of two UNSC resolutions (as opposed to Israel, which is in violation of zero UNSC resolutions, in spite of the anti-Israel crowd’s insistence otherwise). But here’s where the logic gets all blown to hell:

Ban also leveled criticism at the remarks made by GOC Northern Command Gadi Eisenkot to the daily Yedioth Ahronoth several weeks ago regarding the Israel Defense Forces’ plans to use “disproportionate force” should war again break out with Lebanon or Hezbollah.

In response, senior Hezbollah figures told the media the organization would respond forcefully to any Israeli attack.

“I am disturbed by the repeated exchanges of threats, through the media, between Israel and Hezbollah. I urge all parties to cease this public discourse, which creates anxiety among civilian populations on both sides,” he said.

Get it? Hezbollah threatens Israel with thousands of missiles, an illegal militia, and has stated quite clearly that it wants to destroy Israel. These are unquestionably threats. Israel says she will defend herself strongly against an attack. This is considered a threat, both by Israel, and by the AP, which wrote this article. Look at the language in bold. Israel was responding to the Hezbollah threat. The AP structures it as a threat by Israel to the Iranian proxy army.

Language matters. This is the sort of thing that gets picked up by the left, swallowed whole, and then repeated—until it becomes conventional wisdom. Israel is exchanging threats, not declaring that she will defend herself strongly in the event that Hezbollah launches another attack on her.

This is one reason why Israel is so hated in the world. The cards are stacked against her from every organization, and every angle.