Monday, July 21, 2008

Living in denial over Samir Kuntar

Dion Nissenbaum visits Samir Kuntar, back home in Lebanon, and tries to explain the question haunting so many: How can the Lebanese possibly take pride in, even celebrate, a child-murderer?

Clearly, many people - the majority - simply want to harm the Israeli "enemy". But Nissenbaum adds:

Amal Saad-Ghorayeb, a Beirut-based political analyst and Hezbollah specialist, said people here simply don't accept Israel's version of events.

"I don't think all Lebanese believe he actually killed the child," she said.

Not impossible; there is a respectable tradition of living in denial in the Middle East - witness the number of people who do not, for example, believe that Muslims were responsible for 9/11.

UPDATE: SoccerDad fisks Nissenbaum's interview

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