Corporate Western media appears to celebrate Israel’s Illegal occupation of Lebanon

Ethnic Cleansing — Several Western corporate media outlets have appeared to celebrate Israel’s illegal occupation of the Crusader-era Qal’at al-Shaqif Castle in southern Lebanon.

“Captured a strategic mountain”

At this point it sounds like AP is celebrating Israel’s unlawful occupation of Lebanon. https://t.co/b13dCVICHD

— Assal Rad (@AssalRad) May 31, 2026

On Sunday, May 31, Israel issued more illegal forced displacement orders to all residents living south of the Zahrani River. The attack suggests that Israel is moving towards attacking the city of Nabatieh.

Israel had issued more than 10 displacement orders in the last 24 hours. On Friday, the IOF crossed the Litani River for the first time since 2006.

Now, Israel has illegally occupied the historic Beaufort Castle (Qalaat al-Shaqif) in southern Lebanon. In the process of doing so, it killed a paramedic and damaged a hospital.

A paramedic has been killed and a hospital damaged, as Israeli forces say they have captured the historic Beaufort Castle (Qalaat al-Shaqif) in southern Lebanon, pushing beyond the Litani River for the first time since 2006.

Al Jazeera’s Obaida Hito and Nida Ibrahim report. pic.twitter.com/nPBzhn7Vej

— Al Jazeera English (@AJEnglish) May 31, 2026

Whitewashing

The Associated Press, CNN, Financial Times, and Reuters all used words such as “seized”, “strategic”, “major advance”, and “expands” to describe Israel’s illegal invasion and occupation – all of which are war crimes.

They straight-up stole it. It’s land theft. https://t.co/PpprezaU2t

— Arturo Dominguez (@extremearturo) May 31, 2026

Even Al Jazeera put out a headline stating:

Israel issues more displacement orders in Lebanon, seizes strategic castle

Importantly, the dictionary definition of seizure is:

the taking possession of person or property by legal process

Nothing about Israel’s actions in Lebanon, Gaza, Iran, Syria, Yemen, or anywhere else is legal under international law.

What the headline should have said was:

Israel continues to ethnically cleanse southern Lebanon and illegally occupies historic castle.

Of course, we would expect no less from the occupied corporate media, which have spent nearly three years whitewashing Israel’s war crimes.

Western media outlets have continuously used the passive voice to describe Israel’s crimes, failed to name Israel as the perpetrator, and framed the genocidal-terrorist state’s crimes as ‘defeating terrorists’.

“Captured”? Was the mountain a run away? Lost and found? Or maybe “invaded” “occupied “? https://t.co/9YPBUGzy5p

— Samar D Jarrah (@SamarDJarrah) May 31, 2026

All you have to do is compare the reporting to that of Russia’s illegal invasion of Ukraine to see that Western media is in the pockets of the Israeli government.

“Captured”? “Incursion”? Is this the language that we would use to describe a Russian invasion and occupation of Ukrainian territory? This strikes as valorising the Israeli invasion of Lebanon, as opposed to informing the reader. https://t.co/vwu2GA7gwU

— ᴅʀ. ʜ.ᴀ. ʜᴇʟʟʏᴇʀ 🖖🏾 ⚜️ (@hahellyer) May 31, 2026

Of course, the difference is that the majority of Lebanese people and Palestinians are Arab, whereas Ukrainians are mainly white. Black and brown lives have never mattered to Western media outlets or governments.

Additionally, the word ‘strategic‘ sounds like a game of chess. It legitimises Israel’s war crimes and suggests that the settler-colonial state has a right to be in southern Lebanon, which it does not.

Manufacturing consent for ethnic cleansing

Obviously, the framing is deliberate. In the same way that the Western media manufactured consent for the illegal invasion of Iran in 2026 and Iraq in 2003, it continues to provide Israel with the conditions and global consent it needs to carry on its genocide in Gaza and the ethnic cleansing of Lebanon.

Can I walk in my neighbor’s yard and “capture” it? Maybe I’ll go to the grocery store and “capture” a $150 brisket that once cost 40-50 bucks.

As long as you report it that way, people will be cool with it, right? https://t.co/PpprezaU2t

— Arturo Dominguez (@extremearturo) May 31, 2026

Incursion = Invasion
Captured = Occupied https://t.co/6ZNM7ed5k0

— Chris Doyle (@Doylech) May 31, 2026

You’d have thought that if the Associated Press can spell ‘incursion’, they could spell ‘war crimes’ or ‘illegal’. It managed to point out that Israel has, so far, murdered 3,350 people in Lebanon and displaced more than one million. However, not once in a 1,104-word article does the journalist use the word ‘illegal’ or ‘war crime’

Coincidence?

Whitewashing and minimising Israel’s crimes only benefits Israel. The illegal Zionist regime is stealing land — so let’s call it what it is. Ethnic cleansing, illegal occupation, land theft and genocide.

And let’s not forget that Israel continues to ignore a ‘ceasefire’ to commit these war crimes.

Feature image via Carl Court/Getty Images