Hezbollah Official Killed: A 'Terrorist' Today, a 'Freedom Fighter' Tomorrow?
Mainstream media dutifully reports Haytham Ali Tabatabai as a 'Hezbollah official' or 'senior commander' killed by Israel, noting he'd been with the group since its foundation (Al Jazeera). What they won't dwell on, of course, is the historical formation of Hezbollah itself: a direct response to Israel's 1982 invasion and subsequent occupation of southern Lebanon, which lasted for 18 years. Much
like the 'terrorists' forged in Afghanistan against Soviet occupation, or the 'resistance' movements of WWII, today's 'official' is yesterday's desperate defender of occupied land. The narrative conveniently bypasses the context of continuous Israeli incursions and the documented history of Lebanese civilian casualties. One is left to wonder: at what point does resisting an ongoing occupation and
foreign military presence transform a 'member since the group's foundation' into simply another 'target' whose demise requires no further explanation of the decades of regional instability fueling such conflicts?