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Comment by dotancohen | Hacker News Reader

What are you talking about? It is well established that Hezbollah shot the missile. They bragged about it in their Telegram channels (I just happened to be reading the Gaza Now channel when they reposted it, I don't read the Hezbollah channels), and the direction and the debris are conclusive. The only reason to sow doubt is to protect these monsters. I think that you should really revaluate your reasons for protecting Hezbollah's reputation. Even the Lebanese hate them and want them out of their country.

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Just because my enemy committed war crimes doesn't mean I get a free pass to commit war crimes

> It is well established that Hezbollah shot the missile. They bragged about it in their Telegram channels

> I don't read the Hezbollah channels

ok... [1]

> The only reason to sow doubt is to protect these monsters.

i personally dispute misinformation because, well, it's misinformation and it's used by state actors to escalate violence. [2]

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[1] "Hezbollah, the most powerful paramilitary and political force in Lebanon, was quick to say it was not behind the attack, a rare denial from a group that normally claims every attack launched."

[2] "With Israel vowing retaliation for what was the highest civilian death toll in Israel-held territory since Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack on southern Israel, diplomats rushed to prevent an escalation that could spiral into an all-out war after months of exchanges between Israel and Hezbollah over the Lebanese-Israeli border."

source: https://apnews.com/article/israel-golan-heights-soccer-rocke...

> > It is well established that Hezbollah shot the missile. They bragged about it in their Telegram channels

> > I don't read the Hezbollah channels

I read the Gaza channels. They republish things from other channels. Right now I'm subscribed only to Gaza Now as that seems to be the source of much information that the other channels republish, as much news being made is being made in Gaza.

> i personally dispute misinformation because, well, it's misinformation and it's used by state actors to escalate violence.

The idea that this missile was not from Hezbollah is misinformation. They claimed it then retracted it. People there state that it came from Lebanon, apparently backed up by the direction of the debris and video. And the Druze - who famously abhor conflict - state that it came from Lebanon and they petitioned the Israeli government not to retaliate. If there were any doubt, the Druze themselves would be saying it.

Israel claims it was Hezbollah, while Hezbollah denies they were responsible.

To date, there has been no independent verification of the weapon's remains. At this point it is very much a case of "he said, she said". On that basis I can only ask, why would Hezbollah deliberately target the Druze civilian population? You seem to imply that they did so deliberately (i.e. deliberately targeted these civilians). That, in my opinion is simply your opinion and not based on verifiable fact. There is not even a likely motivation for such an act.

To be clear, I am fully willing to accept - given the available evidence - that Hezbollah may have made a miscalculation and are responsible for the deaths of these children. Deliberately though? Very, very doubtful.

They claim - and I believe them - that they were targeting a military base further up the mountain. They claimed a direct hit on the base, then it was apparent that the missile fell in Majdal Shams (a city that I've been to many times, as recently as 2022), and they retracted their claims of hitting the army base.

Again, it is still not established as a fact that whatever hit the football field and killed those children came from Hezbollah (Personally, I do believe this is possible. I do not believe that this could have been deliberate).

However, I do owe you an apology. In an earlier comment I claimed that you had implied that Hezbollah was deliberately targeting civilians in this latest conflict and after rereading it seems you haven't made this claim. Sorry.

Do you think that missile came thousands of kilometers away from Ukraine? Do you think it was a Houthi missile? We've seen misfires of Iron Dome rockets (I've literally been watching Iron Dome rockets firing from my back yard for years) and they look nothing like the explosion seen by this rocket - or the damage. And yes, we did have a civilian killed by a misfired Iron Dome, and immediately said so.

What level of proof are you looking for? Hezbollah even claimed responsibility then retracted it when it was found to have hit a non-military target.

> What level of proof are you looking for?

It seems pretty clear that independent verification of the debris would settle this conclusively. Hasn't happened. Why?

What other rocket attack has been independently verified? Why such a high standard for this one particular attack? It has no features different from any other Hezbollah attacks against Israel - and there have been literally thousands of such rocket attacks recently. In any case, go look at the footage of the explosion - it was caught by multiple cameras. Or go to Majdal Shams (I have been there many times, though not since the attack) and talk to residents. They all confirm from where the rocket came and in which direction it was heading. This isn't the type of rocket that Israel uses at all.

> Why such a high standard for this one particular attack?

Because it was used as justification for a major escalation.

> Hezbollah attacks against Israel - and there have been literally thousands of such rocket attacks recently.

It does. Hezbollah denied it. They haven't been in the habit of doing that.

> This isn't the type of rocket that Israel uses at all.

Again, you are making claims without possibly being sure of them - unless you take the Israeli government's word for it - you cannot possibly be sure. Neither can I.

Anyhow, as it's clear that you are unwilling to entertain the possibility that this was not a Hezbollah rocket, I don't think there is anything to be gained from continuing this discussion.

I note that you are commenting from Israel. I am not. I'm a long way from this conflict. I hope that you and your loved ones are safe and can soon enjoy the kind of security and freedoms that most of us take for granted.

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