The Assault on Lebanon

Ralph speaks to independent investigative journalist Lylla Younes to discuss her reporting on Israel's assault on southern Lebanon. Then, Ralph and media studies professor Robin Andersen discuss her new book "The Complicit Lens: US Media Coverage of the Genocide in Gaza." Lylla Younes is a Beirut-based journalist. She is an editor at The Public Source, and a frequent contributor to Drop Site News. What we’ve seen in the past several days is really an escalation of what’s been happening since March 2nd (when the US-Israeli assault on Iran took off) and then obviously the ceasefire… What we see is a campaign of ethnic cleansing from the Israeli military in Lebanon. And that has looked like the Gaza playbook sped up, you could say, in southern Lebanon. It’s looked like invading and bulldozing homes; tearing up roads; destroying, booby-trapping, and detonating entire villages and cultural sites. It’s looked like targeting medical personnel—killing, at this point, over 100 since March 2nd (this is in addition to the 130 or so who were killed in the last round of fighting in 2024). In addition to that, the targeting and killing of journalists who are reporting near the border. I think it’s important to note there’s practically no one left in the border region. Having a press vest on and a microphone and a camera is basically like having a target on your back at this point. Lylla Younes The pager attack was, I think it’s fair to say, one of the darker days of Lebanese history. I think regardless of people’s feelings about Hezbollah, the fact that you are setting men alight literally in the streets in cities all across the country, killing children, maiming children—the mark of the pager attack was that these pagers that Hezbollah members were carrying exploded in their faces and blinded them. So you have thousands of blinded people, people missing fingers. And again, some of these are relatives of Hezbollah members. It was a massive event that overwhelmed hospitals across the country. And it also marked the beginning of that 66 day [period] of escalated fighting. And it showed how deeply infiltrated Hezbollah was in an intelligence capacity. This was quite a feat by the Israeli Mossad. Lylla Younes Robin Andersen is professor emerita of media studies at Fordham University and an award-winning author of a dozen single- and co-authored books. She serves as a Project Censored Judge, and contributes to the annual State of the Free Press. She is on the Board of Directors of Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting (FAIR), where she also writes regularly, and is an Izzy Award Judge for the Park Center for Independent Media. Her latest book is The Complicit Lens: US Media Coverage of Israel’s Genocide in Gaza. In my book, I look at the directives of the New York Times and CNN, and then I compare it to media coverage. And I found that, in fact, these were the ways [the directives that were passed down] in which the media was presenting the genocide in Gaza…But in terms of the Israeli directives, CNN was putting their copy through their Jerusalem bureau and the IDF was looking at it. The New York Times was simply going along with Israeli talking points. So we did find that. And the real telling part was when they finally did say that Israel dropped the bomb, it was only when Israel had admitted—or put their propaganda to the next level, which was to claim that they had killed a Hamas commander or a fighter or somebody involved in Hamas. And we found that also in the BBC. So those were direct things that came from Israel. And abandoning their journalistic mission, the US media was basically following the dictates of a foreign government. Robin Andersen Their form of censorship was basically murder. They knew that as the genocide wore on (and Israel controlled the narrative for a very long time, and then it started to collapse) as over time we saw on the internet, we saw on our handheld devices the documentation of what was happening [they’d lose control of the narrative]. And so in a total propaganda environment, what we have to have is no noise, no opposition, no alternative information. And Israel really was trying to achieve a total propaganda environment. It wasn’t enough that they had establishment in legacy media and those media were allowing outside influences to direct their editorial decisions. That wasn’t quite enough. Robin Andersen News 5/29/26 * This week, Democratic Socialist Mayor of New York City Zohran Mamdani unveiled his plan to construct 200,000 new rent-stabilized homes in the city over the next decade, PIX 11 reports, making good on a campaign promise that many supposedly savvy political observers doubted. In addition to the new construction, Mamdani vowed to “preserve and stabilize” an additional 200,000 via New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA) repairs, increased housing code enforcement, and a special focus on development in the Bronx. In his announcement, Mamdani said “We are the largest city in the nation. We have the resources, the talent, and the will to achieve this.” * In the federal government, one of the most controversial members of the Trump administration – former Democratic Congresswoman and presidential candidate Tulsi Gabbard – has resigned her position as Director of National Intelligence (DNI). The BBC reports Gabbard is citing her husband’s recent bone cancer diagnosis as the reason for her departure, but also notes that Gabbard “has largely been out of public view even as the US took military action against Iran, put pressure on Cuba, and…removed Venezuela’s president.” In theory, these would all require a substantial degree of participation from and coordination with the DNI, but Gabbard seemed pointedly out of the loop. The actions of the administration have also been diametrically opposed to Gabbard’s past foreign policy positions, defined by her 2020 slogan “no more regime change wars.” Others have noted that Gabbard now joins former Attorney General Pam Bondi, Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer and DHS Secretary Kristi Noem as high-profile women ousted from the Trump administration while glaringly incompetent men like Pete Hegseth remain in their posts. * Turning to Texas, this week saw a political bloodbath in the runoffs for the primaries held back in March. The topline of course is that scandal-plagued Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, backed by Trump, triumphed over powerful longtime incumbent Senator John Cornyn. With the backing of the president, Paxton wiped the floor with Cornyn, winning around two-thirds of the vote. Yet Paxton goes into the general election against James Talarico very weak. 35% of those polled “Disapprove Strongly” of Paxton with only 15% saying they “Strongly Approve” according to the Texas Politics Project and even the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) condemned Paxton’s “lies” “incompetence” personal scandals and corruption in now-deleted press releases. Further down the ballot, incumbent Democratic Members of Congress Al Green and Julie Johnson have been defeated in their primary run-offs, after being forced into Member-on-Member races by the Texas redistricting scheme. * Meanwhile in Michigan, NOTUS reports the Working Families Party (WFP) has endorsed progressive Senate hopeful Abdul El-Sayed. This primary campaign, with El-Sayed running against moderate Congresswoman Haley Stevens and liberal state Sen. Mallory McMorrow, has become a bruising tripartite affair pitting the three major factions within the Democratic Party against one another. Recently, El-Sayed has taken the lead in this race, which WFP hopes to help consolidate, saying it is prepared to go “all in” on this race. WFP is feeling confident following their role in helping to ensure victory for Chris Rabb in Pennsylvania and Analilia Mejia in New Jersey. * In the Garden State, Senator Andy Kim was caught in a cloud of pepper spray this week as he joined protestors outside of a privately-run ICE detention facility, NJ.com reports. The pr… Get full access to Ralph Nader Radio Hour at www.ralphnaderradiohour.com/subscribe