PBS News Mideast “special correspondent” Simona Foltyn reported from Lebanon for Sunday's PBS News Weekend, from a funeral service celebrating the life and legacy of….Hassan Nasrallah, who led the Iran-backed anti-Israel terrorist group Hezbollah before dying months ago under Israeli bombardment.
Foltyn has a virulently anti-Israel X feed and a journalistic history to match, always boosting the pro-Hamas perspective, and this story is a bizarre encomium to Nasrallah, whose Hezbollah forces fought alongside Syrian dictator Assad killing thousands of Syrian rebels in the process, and then joined forces with the terrorists of Hamas to attack Israel via rocket fire from Lebanon -- an overreach for which paid the price.
Simona Foltyn: It’s the end of an era for Lebanon. Hassan Nasrallah was the country`s most powerful man. His group Hezbollah, its strongest political and military force. Labeled a terrorist by Israel, Nasrallah is revered by Lebanon`s Shiite community, who gathered in their thousands to pay their respects. Rasha Accoushe traveled to the capital from her village in southern Lebanon.
Rasha Accoushe, Hezbollah Supporter (through translator): We will keep crying over him for a long time, but this person, he taught us what it means to stand up for ourselves, to defend our land and to defend our rights.
Foltyn: Nasrallah was killed on September 27th when Israel pummeled Beirut suburbs with a barrage of bunker busting bombs supplied by the United States. Despite his demise, his supporters have remained defiant.
Another Accoushe rant followed.
Foltyn: Israel and Lebanon agreed to a ceasefire back in November, but this didn`t stop Israeli jets from flying overhead, a violation of Lebanese airspace that drew angry chants from the crowd, some directed at the United States. Rasha`s demands towards the U.S. Government are clear.
Accoushe: We want the United States to stop financing Israel. It’s very simple. And we want them to leave the Muslim world alone.
But will the Muslim world leave the West alone?
Foltyn interviewed a Hezbollah member of Parliament who bragged “Nobody can surpass Hezbollah on the domestic front. Hezbollah has the most popular support in Lebanon.”
Foltyn: Only time will tell if Hezbollah can maintain the support base without Nasrallah. For many people gathered here, Nasrallah was a father figure who led the movement for more than three decades. His assassination has no doubt weakened the group, but his legacy is likely to live on. This funeral sends the message that Hezbollah has survived the war and still enjoys a lot of grassroots support. For PBS News Weekend, I`m Simona Foltyn in Beirut, Lebanon.
After that treatment, it would surely shock no one that Foltyn worked for the virulently anti-Israel outlet Arab news network Al-Jazeera English from 2019 to 2021 (on the Iraq beat),
A related New York Times piece was also far too favorable to Nasrallah but at least wasn’t as grossly positive as PBS was about Hezbollah’s post-Nasrallah prospects, noting its decimated military might and increasing unpopularity among the Lebanese people.
