The Economist Claims Ok To Mention 2020 Beirut Port Explosion Without

The Economist Claims Ok To Mention 2020 Beirut Port Explosion Without =
Noting Hezbollah Responsible
From: Dr. Aaron Lerner =20
Sent: Tuesday, October 8, 2024 1:37 PM
To: podcasts@economist.com
Subject: The Intelligence on Elias Khoury mentions the destruction of =
Beirut port as if by Israel rather than Hezbollah

Greetings,

I appreciate that a day after the 7th of October The Economist is =
bending over backwards to put out material of a certain, shall-we-say, =
=E2=80=9Corientation=E2=80=9D.

But the item on Elias Khoury mentioned the huge August 4 2020 explosion =
at the port of Beirut with the implication that Israel was behind it =
when the truth is that Hezbollah recklessly stored close to three =
thousand tons of ammonium nitrate without proper safety measures and =
after many years it exploded. Israel had nothing to do with this. =20

I don=E2=80=99t expect the Economist to spend a microsecond discussing =
the morality of Gazans who opted to sacrifice themselves along with =
their families, as human shields for Hamas rather than heeding =
instructions to evacuate to safety.

But to imply that Israel is responsible for the screw up of Hezbollah?=20
=20
Best regards,
Dr. Aaron Lerner =E2=80=93 Raanana
(I subscribe to the podcasts and listen to basically all of them the =
moment that they are available!)

From: Chris Impey=20
Sent: Friday, October 11, 2024 12:19 PM
To: imra@netvision.net.il
Subject: Elias Khoury obituary

Dear Dr Lerner,

Thank you very much for emailing us about our obituary of Elias Khoury. =
The section you refer to in the piece was as follows:

“The refugee camps were all there, and Beirut itself had suffered =
terribly from a number of tragedies. First of all, the Civil War, which =
lasted for 15 years. Then the Israeli bombing of 1982. And then in 2020 =
a huge explosion in the port which devastated a large part of the city.”

There was no intention to imply that the explosion had anything to do =
with Israel. The mention of Israel in the sentence specifically refers =
to the events of 1982. We fully acknowledge that the explosion was =
caused by 2,750 tonnes of ammonium nitrate stored improperly for years =
at the port.

I hope that answers your query. I am personally very pleased that you =
are such a keen consumer of Economist podcasts.

Best wishes,

Chris
Chris Impey
Co-editor, The Intelligence podcast =E2=80=93 The Economist
________________________________________
IMRA – Independent Media Review and Analysis

Since 1992 providing news and analysis on the Middle East with a focus =
on Arab-Israeli relations

Website: www.imra.org.il

Source: https://www.imra.org.il/story.php?id=74246