NewsFLASH:

HEZBOLLAH LEADS WORK TO REBUILD, GAINING STATURE
———
Filling Void in Lebanon
———
Militia Moves Fast With Bulldozers and Pledge of Cash From Iran

Is this a joke, a parody, somebody’s idea of turning the moral realm on its head and portraying a genocidal guerilla army as a cross between the Lady Bountiiful, Santa Claus and the Army Corps of Engineers?

Nope. It’s the headline of the lead “news” story in today’s NYT. With Iran pouring cash into Hezbollah coffers for reconstruction projects in Lebanese towns that Hezbollah itself turned into battlegrounds by hiding its men and munitions in backyards, apartment houses and “hospitals,” the Grey Lady really dons the full-metal-hijab for Hezbollah this time, pushing the old “social services” story as the terror org’s means of “gaining stature.” The not-so-subtle subtext rationalizes Hezbollah’s support among what you might call ordinary Lebanese people: Hezbollah delivers tangible aid and comfort, so why shouldn’t “ordinary” Lebanese people give Hezbollah their undying devotion?

If this excuse for supporting terrorists sounds familiar, it is. When Hamas won its electoral victory in the PA, the snap-consensus, from our president to our pundits, was that the Hamas victory was due to Hamas “social services”–and not at all that the PA people supported Hamas’s genocidal campaign against Israel’s very state of being.

But think about it: If the Lebanese and the Palestinians could learn to love Hezbollah and Hamas just because of “social services,” wouldn’t the greatest supplier of social services in the world–the United States taxpayer–be positively adored? In Iraq, thanks to the bravery and dedication of our troops, America has supplied more “social services”–schools, water works, hospitals, elections, electricity, air conditioning, bubblegum–than we can even imagine. But our “social services” don’t seem to gain us “stature,” or even improve our image–because no one likes what’s inside. Not so when it comes to our terrorist enemies in the region, whose appeal, through and through, is colossal.

The frontpage below, harkening back a few days to the media’s and the EU’s overreaction to Israel’s “overreaction,” is a parody. I think. (From The People’s Cube via Gates of Vienna