Israeli
Newspaper Reports That
The Army Lied About Qana
By Ira Glunts
03August, 2006
Countercurrents.org
In its lead
story [1] today (August 1), the Hebrew edition of Ha’aretz
Online reported that the Israeli Defense Force (IDF) claim that Hezbollah
missile launchers and Hezbollah fighters were in and around the building
in Qana which they shelled early Sunday morning was false.
Oddly, this article which
points to Israeli culpability and recklessness in what some are calling
the IDF's second massacre in Qana (the first was in 1996), has been
largely ignored in the international press.
According to the newspaper,
the IDF “decided to attack houses in a specific radius of a place
that was used in the past to launch missiles.” The article states
that the tactic of choosing buildings as targets that are near areas
from which rockets were launched in the past has been used before.
Initially, Israeli
military sources had reported [2] that the deaths in Qana
where caused not by the Israeli air attack early Sunday morning, but
by an accidental explosion, many hours later, of Hezbollah ordinance
which was stored inside the building. According to the Ha’aretz
article, this is not true. Israeli Air Force sources have admitted,
according to Ha'aretz that the deaths in Qana where caused by the Israeli
shelling. Between 30 and 60 deaths were reported as a result of the
building collapse. Many bodies are still believed to be buried beneath
the rubble.
Additionally, the claim of
the IDF that leaflets were dropped on the weekend which warned of an
attack were also untrue. The leaflets were actually delivered "some
days" before the weekend, according to military sources.
[1] Ha'aretz Online, August
1, 2006, "Call For A Official Commission to Investigate the Explosion
at Qana" http://www.haaretz.co.il/hasite/spages/745130.html
[2] Jerusalem Post, July
30, 2006, "Kana Collapse Was Hours After Attack,"
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?c=JPArticle&ci
d=1153292036218&pagename=
JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull