Tipsheet

Not Just the AP: WaPo Memorializes Terrorist Leader

Rebecca Downs
Rebecca Downs  |  September 28, 2024 7:15 PM

The last few weeks have been pretty terrible for Hezbollah. Reports from Friday that their leader, Hassan Nasrallah, was killed were confirmed on Saturday. As we covered at the time, the Associated Press memorialized Nasrallah in a Friday night headline as "charismatic and shrewd," but they weren't the only ones to commemorate the dead terrorist leader in such a way. The Washington Post also felt it fitting to join in on celebrating Nasrallah.

"Hasan Nasrallah, Hezbollah leader and force in Middle East, is killed," read the Saturday headline from Liz Sly, which conveniently left out mention of Hezbollah being a terrorist group. 

There's also been plenty of screenshots of a particularly damning part of the obituary, with many sharing over X how Nasrallah is referred to as "a father figure."

Indeed, the obituary spends plenty of time discussing how the terrorist leader was celebrated by his followers [Emphasis added]:

Among his followers, Mr. Nasrallah was seen as a father figure, a moral compass and a political guide. He was lauded as the man who empowered Lebanon’s once downtrodden and impoverished Shiite community and protected it from Israeli incursions by turning Hezbollah into a formidable deterrent force.

Because of threats to his life from Hezbollah’s many enemies, he had not been seen in public since 2014. Instead, he communicated with his followers through regularly televised addresses broadcast from an undisclosed location.

Wearing the black turban that signifies descent from the prophet Muhammad, he delivered advice on topics ranging from complicated regional events to personal hygiene during the covid pandemic, sometimes speaking for hours without notes, always in the folksy yet articulate manner that established him as a skilled orator.

By devoting several paragraphs to Nasrallah's "followers," The Washington Post portrays the terrorist leader as a both sides kind of figure. The opening paragraph went for this angle too, as it read in part that Nasrallah "became one of the most powerful and divisive leaders in the Middle East, revered by his followers as a savior and condemned by his foes as a terrorist, died Sept. 27 in Beirut."

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Notice it's his "foes" who regard Nasrallah as the "terrorist" that he is. As even the AP pointed out, the United States designated Hezbollah as a terrorist group in 1997. 

Brett T. at our sister site of Twitchy included The Washington Post in the list of media outlets memorializing the dead terrorist in such a positive light. The AP and The Washington Post weren't even the only outlets included, though. 

In July, Hezbollah rockets targeted the Israeli Druze Arab village of Majdal Shams, resulting in children being killed as they played soccer. 

Hezbollah has also been responsible for plenty of acts of terror against Americans as well, as AGHamilton29 laid out over X in a post from Tablet Magazine. This includes the 1983 suicide truck bombing at the U.S. Embassy in Beirut and the bombing of U.S. and French barracks there as well. 

Israel has taken out Hezbollah terrorists with exploding pagers as well as walkie-talkies in recent weeks, in addition to taking out Nasrallah. The death of terrorists has been a move commemorated and celebrated with memes, though nevertheless opposed by Israel's enemies, including members of the Squad and the United Nations. 

Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) is still complaining about the actions of Israel, referring to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as a "war criminal" as she takes to X to complain about his "genocidal plan," as Doug P. at Twitchy covered. 

Netanyahu ordered the hit on Friday, the same day that he spoke at the United Nations. Such a move was reportedly done to give Nasrallah a false sense of security.

The Iranian supreme leader has also been hit with plenty of Community Notes as he still desperately continues to put out propaganda about Hezbollah.