Israel Matzav

Hezbullah terror victims sue al-Jazeera

A group of 91 Israelis who were either wounded during the 2006 Second Lebanon War, or whose relatives were killed or wounded in that war, have brought a $1.2 billion lawsuit in US Federal court charging al-Jazeera with aiding Hezbullah's rocket placement.

The Kaplan vs. Al Jazeera suit seeks compensatory and punitive damages.

Attorney for the plaintiffs, Nitsana Darshan-Leitner, stated, “Al-Jazeera made itself a crucial component of the Hizbullah missile offensive. The intent was to assist the terrorists in targeting and killing civilians. Without the assistance of Al-Jazeera’s on-the-ground spotters, Hizbullah would have been unable to accurately aim its missiles into Israeli cities. Al-Jazeera, which has offices in New York, aided and abetted Hizbullah terrorism and is responsible for the injuries suffered by the victims of these attacks.”

The team of lawyers who filed the suit for the victims charged that “Al-Jazeera intentionally reported live coverage of the locations of the missile strikes inside of Israel in violation of military censorship regulations, in order to enable Hizbullah to aim the missiles more accurately.

“Al-Jazeera camera crews in Israel during the war were repeatedly detained by the Israeli police for broadcasting real-time information regarding the location of missile strikes, which Hizbullah utilized to more accurately aim their missiles at civilian population centers.”

During the Second Lebanon War, as in previous wars, the media were prohibited from reporting the exact locations where rockets fell out of fear that the reports would help Hezbullah to aim more accurately. Al-Jazzera repeatedly violated the prohibition.

UPDATE 9:06 AM

More here.

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 8:20 AM