I apologise for the break, I have been setting up in Beirut to cover the Israeli assault from here.
This has been quite a logistic challenge. I am accompanied by Niels Ladefoged, the cinematographer with Wikileaks who was with Julian Assange on his flight to Australia. Readers of this blog know Niels as the cinematographer of Ithaka who was my companion on the month-long tour of Germany I made with that film.
We have needed to get to Beirut and then get safe accommodation, and organise internet access, a car and driver, interpreters, etc. I am lucky to have some very good local introductions to get us started, but obviously do not have the kind of support a media organisation offers.
One thing we have needed to obtain is passes to enter and operate in the evacuated areas of the city. We can without them move freely around much of Beirut including the centre, and film. We have also been able to enter the bombed-out areas and look, but could not stay longer and take pictures or videos there without permission from local committees, which we have been awaiting.
There are two dangers. The first is assassination by the Israelis, who target journalists specifically. The second is that local people are understandably outraged and are suspicious of westerners, with good cause. A cursory check of me first brings the information that I am a former British diplomat, which can bring misunderstanding. That is why permits and protection from local committees is highly recommended to us.
I have sketched out a first article about what I have seen, but really want to get images to accompany it. I am hoping we will solve this today.
It is very expensive to do this trip. I have no financial backing at all other than readers of this blog. Once I get out the first article I shall be launching a specific crowdfund appeal, but meantime if you haven’t subscribed yet, please do so using one of the methods below.
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Writing in Beirut, Lebanon pic.twitter.com/vYX7B7RGsx
— Craig Murray (@CraigMurrayOrg) October 29, 2024
We all have to do what we can to stop this genocide. I have helped initiate the genocide case against Israel at the ICJ, and have been lobbying at the UN for Israel’s suspension. But just now, being here reporting the Israeli assault from the resistance side is what I believe I can do best to contribute.
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Questions at the top of the list for investigative journalists working on the side of the angels in Lebanon:
1. Which parties were involved in the terrorist attack using the pagers [*], and what did they do, when, and where?
2. If the Lebanese cabinet (which has two members from Hezbollah, IIANM) knows, why isn’t it shouting the information from the rooftops? If it doesn’t know, why doesn’t it?
I find it hard to believe that the Zionists didn’t get help.
They certainly got help after the event, when lies, obvious lies, were spread – and not just in the Zionists’ own rag, Sulzberger’s oh-so-factchecky New York Times – ridiculous lies involving such a large amount of explosive per phone that would have been totally unrealistic.
There could be relevant info about lithium batteries, a software exploit – or both – that the world’s powers agree shouldn’t come out right now.
And it’s very interesting that there’s no info about blokes in balaclavas getting into a port, or the movements of a speedboat or indeed any other maritime vessel, or Mossad killers doing their tradecraft in a hotel lobby. There’s been absolutely zilch so far.
Note
(*) Let’s call it “17-9” for short – 17 September 2024.
Best lead is that Israel acted as middle man for the pagers ordered by Hezbollah and prepared them. Any more deeper, investigative information is probably never to be seen since Lebanon is so politically corrupt.
Hezbollah not only face traitors within their own organisation but various political groups in Lebanon have proved to be nothing but agents for Israel, the US and the sunni-secterian Saudis. Wikileaks have alot on Lebanon.
Norman Finkelstein claim that he overrated Hezbollah capabilites considering how many enemies Hezbollah in fact had.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oEBXHcpf_PE
Just the other day the PM of Lebanon met Anthony Blinken for a cozy chat. That is Blinken that green-lighted Israel’s assault on Lebanon. With friends like this, who need enemies:
https://www.c-span.org/video/?539536-1/secretary-blinken-meets-caretaker-lebanese-prime-minister-london
If we had a single possible scenario for where and when the pagers were tampered with – in which port, on board which maritime vessel, or perhaps somewhere else – that would be a step forward.
Re. weapons, and without wishing to contribute to the myth of the Pure Journalist, I am open to the idea that the following article by the BBC doesn’t deserve to be called journalism:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/ckgry8rpzn4o
“The ICBM was fired at a sharply-raised angle and reached as high as 7,000km (4,350 miles). This means that it would have covered a further distance if it were launched horizontally.”
If the issue weren’t so serious, that level of total cluelessness might even be amusing. (Has the “journalist” ever thrown a stone?) It’s up there with the guy running Porton Down who wibbled on about a “strain” of a chemical weapon.
It’s hard to know what our rulers as a collective, or as a bucket of rats scratching each other, or however else one wishes to characterise them, have got planned for the next few weeks, but there does seem to be a bit of a whiff in the air. Much of the MSM in US plus satellites is suggesting that the timing of a North Korean missile test may be connected with the US election without saying why that might be so, or why Kim Jong-Un would care a monkey’s about the said election.
Meanwhile the Polymarkets political betting market “manipulation” story isn’t being linked much to Peter Thiel, despite the fact that he owns a fair chunk of the company AND he also seems to have owned a fair sized chunk of J D Vance since at least 2011.
Vance could be US president soon…
There seems to be something wrong with Trump’s leg:
https://x.com/RonFilipkowski/status/1851772449181851717
(Note: this is not based only on the garbage truck film, which by itself wouldn’t amount to much leg-wise, other than showing an elderly man climbing into a lorry. But taken together with earlier film…)
The US is as usual attempting to provoke dissension in Lebanon. There is potentially fertile ground, as Christians, Maronites, Catholics and others (who used to dominate Lebanon, and for whom the state was created) don’t like the prominent role of the Shi’a. That is, we are talking about an attempt at yet another Colour Revolution.
It is obvious that in view of the current regime in Israel, it would be very foolish for the Lebanese to go along with that.
Be careful Craig – the Zionists will be out to snipe you at the first opportunity they get – not to mention the Lebanese with ties to the UK and the US.
Meanwhile – the English governments complicity in the genocide continues.
“F-35 fighter jet parts have been secretly transported to Israel from a British air force base in Norfolk, it can be revealed.
At least seven arms shipments have been sent from RAF Marham to Israel’s F-35 airbase at Nevatim since the Gaza bombing began.
Two of the deliveries took place this summer shortly after Keir Starmer became UK prime minister.
The information is contained within cargo documents reviewed by The Ditch and Declassified.
The documents show that the UK government has not only been approving F-35 export licences to Israel, but actively facilitating their transportation through British military sites.
F-35 supplies have become particularly controversial after it emerged that Israel used one of the planes to bomb a designated safe zone in Gaza, Al-Mawasi, killing 90 people.”
https://www.declassifieduk.org/f-35-components-sent-to-israel-from-royal-air-force-base/
Strange why Starmer and all the other genocide apologists haven’t crowed from the rooftops about British participation. Or mentioned it at all. If Israel is so justified in what it is doing, then why the strict silence and pretence that Britain is not involved?
Good luck, Craig. You and your friend are very brave.
The Most Moral army in the World claim that people are walking into bullets/tank shells and of course covering for Hamas who are hiding underneath them and that they deserve to be bombed with 2k bombs because they know Hamas are underneath them or amongst them.
These people are lunatics, and hysterical lunatics, at that and it is a reason why you and your friend should view your whole situation relative to the lunacy.
The current Israel stance does not flow from successes – it flows from fear and panic. Netanyahu has bet the farm on the idea that the US will back (indeed lead) its Greater Israel Policy by attacking and eliminating Iran – the real danger to Israel – not Hamas.
No guarantees there on the US’s past Regime Change record. If the US’s interests (say in Saudi and so on) are threatened, then there is only one winner. The US.
p.s. Do not wear a big coat or helmet saying ‘Press’. That makes you a target. And try not to look pale; that’s a dead giveaway as to who you are and where you are from.
You have done an incredible amount. When one thinks of opposition to the genocide in British journalism only your name and those of Matt Kennard, Lowkey and Owen Jones come to mind. Has there ever been a more revelatory year for British journalism?
Owen Jones is still taking flak over his leftist credentials, but he’s the bravest of the lot to my mind. Huge following on ‘X’ 1 million+, mainstream. He’s highlighted the fact he gets regular serious threats, and yet he still continues to highlight the suffering in Gaza.
Being an Israeli critic isn’t a profitable route for any mainstream journo either; you can bet his stance has cost Jones lots of money and a few friendships. So many celebs who are normally outspoken on humanitarian issues, have disappointed on Gaza: Bono, Geldof; Sting et al.
I’m astonished at the indifference to the suffering from people who’ll weep over something as superficial as a Strictly Come Dancing elimination. Surreal world and surreal times we live in.
Only a few years ago, Jones pretended to believe that Roger Waters was an anti-Semite because he played the role of a Nazi in a performance of The Wall in Germany. And he backstabbed Corbyn on the anti-Semitism issue, too. I don’t know what his game is, but I don’t think that he deserves trust.
the dangers inherent, at the present time, of living in beruit are not helped by the american ambassador, one lisa a johnson, who is earnestly trying to foment a civil war. whether aoun will fall for this pro-israeli nonsense i don’t know. i fear for her and her no doubt copious marine guard.
look after yourself craig, and suggest an escape route or two.
A brave and truly altruistic decision. I hope that the risks you are taking don’t materialise.
Fantastic articles Craig, spent the whole evening last night reading & watching your interviews of your time in Beirut, both you & Niels are very brave. Keep safe. Thank you.
— Truman #YellowRibbons4Assange now Green Ribbons for Gaza & #StopKillingJournalists campaign.