broadcast  October 26, 2006

In 1988, at the age of 20, Lebanese Soha Béchara attempted to assassinate the leader of Israel's auxiliary militia in occupied southern Lebanon. His act cost him 10 years in one of the worst prisons in the world. Based in Geneva since her release, Soha Béchara returns to Lebanon accompanied by a team from Temps Present. Has the war radicalized young people? Will many of them, like her, risk a suicide operation? Icon of the resistance, the young woman opens the doors to circles close to Hezbollahz.

In Lebanon, Soha Béchara is considered the very embodiment of resistance. At the age of 20, this Christian, member of the Lebanese Communist Party, infiltrated the South Lebanon Army (ALS) and twice shot its leader, Antoine Lahad. The latter survived, while Soha Béchara spent ten years in the infamous Khiam prison, where she suffered isolation and torture. She was released in 1998, two years before the withdrawal of Israeli troops, and settled in Geneva.

Although she does not share the theses of Hezbollah, due to her stay in Khiam, Soha Béchara is entitled to the respect of its leaders and to access to areas controlled by the “party of God”. With the cameras of Temps Present, Soha takes us to South Lebanon, where despite the reinforced presence of UN peacekeepers and the Lebanese army, Hezbollah continues to lay down the law. In the Shiite villages destroyed by the bombings, Soha meets women who were imprisoned with her and whose sons are already ready to take up arms. In the region, everyone considers that peace is only a truce and that one day the bombs will fall again. No question for the time being of the disarmament of Hezbollah. Heading for Beirut, in the more westernized neighborhoods, where strangely we almost come to support Hezbollah which represents the only resistance force in the face of the Israeli threat. Finally, a stop at Khiam, the former jail which had been transformed into a museum, whose buildings - and symbols - were razed by Israeli raids.

Violence begets violence. The war to destroy Hezbollah has given rise to new resistance fighters. And even in a still divided Lebanon, Israel already seems to have lost the ideological battle.

AIEP PROVIDES RIGHT NOW

The Independent Complaints Review Authority unanimously rejected the complaint of a group of viewers against the report “Soha, return to the country of Hezbollah” broadcast on October 26, 2006 in Temps Present. Contrary to what the complainants asserted, the AIEP considered that the public was perfectly capable, from this broadcast, of forming a personal opinion on the subject covered and on the events which bloodied the region in 2006.

Temps Present decided to devote a report to Lebanon immediately after the conflict which opposed the Israeli army mainly to the Lebanese Shiite movement "Hezbollah" in the summer of 2006. This war had highlighted the political and military importance of Hezbollah's role in Lebanon. In the opinion of the producers of Temps Present, there was great interest in making this movement better known to the Swiss public. Hezbollah is a discreet formation whose approach is difficult. Temps Present had therefore decided to follow in Lebanon a well-known figure of resistance to the Israeli occupation, Soha Bechara, who was to promote contacts with the Shiite movement. Thanks to S.Bechara, Anne-Frédérique Widmann and Jean-Bernard Menoud were actually able to meet several members of Hezbollah and describe the functioning and influence of the “party of God” in southern Lebanon. In its form, the report is an immersion in a conflict zone shortly after a war and largely gives a voice to the inhabitants of this region directly affected by the consequences of the clashes. This is not a file claiming to address all aspects of the Near Eastern crisis. Neutral observers such as representatives of the NGO Human Rights Watch provide an independent point of view on the human rights violations committed by all belligerents during this war.

The plaintiffs challenged this approach. For them the report gives too positive an image of Hezbollah and S. Bechara. He should have included other speakers or documents that would broaden the subject. Without these additional elements, the viewer could not form a personal opinion on the subject.

The AIEP recalled the autonomy of the TSR in its editorial choices, including the angles chosen to treat the subjects it addresses in its reports. For the Authority, it is above all a question of determining whether the viewer could have been manipulated and knowingly misled by a broadcast. Regarding the complaint against “Soha, return to the country of Hezbollah”, the members of the AIEP unanimously concluded that this was not the case for two reasons. Firstly, the approach developed by Temps Present as part of this report was very clearly explained to viewers. Second, at the time this program was broadcast, the public was already well informed on the subject since all the media had extensively commented on the Lebanese conflict. According to the AIEP, viewers were therefore able to place this report in this general context and form an opinion.

Daniel Monnat

Editor-in-chief

from TSR magazines.

credits:

A report by Jean-Bernard Menoud and Anne-Frédérique Widmann

Image: Walther Hug Son: Ottorino Cavadini Montage: Chantal Dall Aglio