Four U.N. observers killed in Israeli airstrike

The Washington Post, along with other major news outlets, is reporting that four U.N. observers have been killed in an Israeli airstrike:

An Israeli airstrike hit a United Nations post in southern Lebanon late Tuesday, killing four international observers, hours after Prime Minister Ehud Olmert agreed to lift Israel’s 14-day blockade of Lebanon for shipments of humanitarian aid to reach the swelling ranks of displaced Lebanese civilians.

U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan, knee jerking recklessly, said he was “shocked and deeply distressed by the apparently deliberate targeting” of the “clearly marked U.N. post at Khiyam”. Meaning: Israel intentionally hit the U.N. post and, ipso facto, killed four U.N. observers. Annan called on Israel to “to conduct a full investigation into this very disturbing incident and demand that any further attack on U.N. positions and personnel must stop”.

But did Israel intentionally target the U.N. post at Khiyam? CNN, which is reporting that two U.N. of the observers were killed while two are still missing, quotes Israel’s ambassador to the U.N., Dan Gillerman: “I am surprised at these premature and erroneous assertions made by the secretary-general, who while demanding an investigation, has already issued its conclusions.”

He’s right. Annan is surely upset that the U.N. observers were killed, but does it make any sense that Israel would do such a thing? Hardly. Annan’s knee jerking is irresponsible and counter-productive.

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I should note that neither the Post nor the BBC bothers to present the Israeli side of the story — the BBC not at all, the Post only with this: “Israeli government officials, expressing regret over the deaths, said that the U.N. personnel were not targeted and that there would be an investigation.”

One of the observers was Canadian. The Globe and Mail has the story (from the AP), but its coverage also offers little more than an uncritical regurgitation of Annan’s comments and a few details that amount to a condemnation of Israel well before all the facts are known.

The airstrike is currently the leading story at Haaretz, which provides much better coverage than these four outlets.

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Originally posted at The Reaction, where, like here, I’ve been on the receiving end of some cowardly vitriol for my (conditional) support for Israel.

I respect many of those who disagree with me (some of whom are friends and acquaintances, some of whom I agree with on many other issues), as well as their opinions, but this conflict seems to have unleashed a torrent of hatred for Israel and anyone even remotely sympathetic to Israel.

I’ll write more on this later today.