Are we helping the enemy

Yesterday there was a flair-up on the Lebanese border.

the sequence of events was as follows:

1. Israel needed to do maintenance work (cutting down a tree) in the closed military zone between the Border fence and the International Border.
2. Even though Israeli troops would not be crossing the border, because this work was adjacent to the border they informed the UN Observers
3. The UN observers notified the Lebanese army, and then went to Observe (after all that’s what they’re there for)
4. The Lebanese army opened fire and killed an Israeli soldier who was working on the Israeli side of the border
5. The international press reported that Israel had invaded Lebanese territory or was working in a disputed area when Lebanese troops opened fire. (Yahoo, AP, MSNBC, and the NY Times all mis-represented the facts, when a simple call to the UN Observers would have eliminated the need for “he said – she said"” journalism)

A few obvious questions:

• Why are we coordinating our activities with UNIFIL if the result is that the Lebanese army is notified in advance of where they should attack us?
• Why do we need UN soldiers to confirm that we did not cross the border, if the result is that the World media blames Israel anyway, or at least assigns equal blame.

As Kurt Cobain said:
“Just because you're paranoid doesn't mean they aren't after you”

Hat tip: Barry Rubin.