Barrot's embarrassing defence of Hezbollah's media agents

Leave it to France to find a way to defend the indefensible, and do it with such effortless diplomatic panache.

On Sunday, French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot declared that journalists working in war zones should "never" be targeted, "including when they have links with parties to the conflict." He was referring to three Lebanese individuals killed Saturday in an Israeli strike in southern Lebanon.

How thoughtful. How principled. How spectacularly uninformed.

A Small Detail Monsieur Barrot Missed

The individuals in question worked for Al-Manar and Al-Mayadeen, two television channels owned and operated by Hezbollah, an organization designated as a terrorist group by the United States, the European Union, and - one would assume - France's own intelligence services.

Neither outlet operates as a news organization in any meaningful sense of the word. Both exist solely to produce propaganda glorifying Iran and Hezbollah, while providing operational cover for the militia's activities. Every employee is, by definition, a participant in Hezbollah's information warfare apparatus.

But wait - it gets better.

According to the Israeli military, one of the individuals killed was not merely a propagandist. He was an active member of Hezbollah's elite Radwan Force, operating "under journalistic cover" while conducting reconnaissance of Israeli military positions in southern Lebanon. In most dictionaries, that is called espionage. In some circles, it is called a legitimate military target.

One can only marvel at Mr. Barrot's remarkable ability to issue sweeping moral pronouncements while remaining apparently unaware of the most basic facts on the ground. Perhaps he was busy. Perhaps his briefing notes were misplaced. Perhaps no one in the Quai d'Orsay thought to mention that the "journalists" he was defending were, in fact, agents of a terrorist organization that France itself has banned.

No serious professional journalist works for Al-Manar or Al-Mayadeen. The suggestion that these outlets employ independent reporters is not naive, it is absurd. A press card issued by Hezbollah is not a journalistic credential. It is an operational cover.

Before his next press appearance, Minister Barrot might consider a brief conversation with France's Direction Générale de la Sécurité Extérieure. 

They could save him considerable embarrassment,  and spare the rest of us the spectacle of a senior European official inadvertently running interference for Iran's terrorist proxy.

France will always surprise. Unfortunately, not always in the right direction.