Siniora Should Be Ashamed

During the July War, Hezbollah fired thousands of unguided Katyusha rockets into civilian areas in northern Israel, killing dozens of Israeli citizens and forcing hundreds of thousands to flee. This is a fact -- regardless of who instigated the war, and regardless of whether Israel targeted Lebanese civilians.

Human Rights Watch recently pointed out this fact, and Hezbollah responded like one would expect Hezbollah to respond. "We did not target civilians but Israel on the other hand did target the civilian population in Lebanon," said Hezbollah spokesman Hussein Rahal. Human Rights Watch was also forced to cancel the press conference to announce its report when Hezbollah threatened to disrupt the event, which tells you all that you need to know about the Party of God's tolerance for open debate and free expression of opinion.

And where was the government during all this? Why weren't they protecting an international organization's right to hold a peaceful press conference at a Beirut Hotel? Well, they were right by Hassan Nasrallah's side. "Israel during the attacks of July 2006 violated all international conventions," said a Siniora press spokesman, in a statement only notable for being completely off-topic.

It is the other corrupt Middle Eastern regimes -- Syria, Egypt, the PLO -- that, when confronted with examples of their corruption and their despotism, always change the subject to Israel. Lebanon should expect more from its leaders.