Following Hassan Nasrallah's death at the hands of an Israeli airstrike, mainstream media outlets portrayed the now-former Hezbollah leader as an erudite "father figure," a "moral compass," a "savior," and a "roly-poly figure" who "empowered" Lebanon's "downtrodden."
The vast majority failed to mention that he was brutal terrorist leader who killed scores of Americans, Israelis, and innocent civilians across the Middle East.
Nasrallah rose to the top of the terror organization in February 1992. A month later, Hezbollah operatives killed 29 people in a suicide bombing attack on the Israeli embassy in Buenos Aires. The terror group's subsequent 1994 attack on the AMIA Jewish community center in Buenos Aires killed 85.
In 1983, one year after Nasrallah helped found Hezbollah, the terror organization murdered 32 Lebanese, 17 Americans, and 14 visitors in its bombing of the U.S. embassy in Beirut. The attack's planners became commanders under Nasrallah, who died a rich man, carrying a net worth of $250 million thanks mostly to illicit drug smuggling.
Most of those details were left out of lengthy obituaries published in the Washington Post, New York Times, and Associated Press.
The Post lauded Nasrallah's "folksy yet articulate manner" and described the terrorist as a "savior" among his followers. The Times billed Nasrallah as a "charismatic religious and political leader and military strategist who had dedicated his life to ‘resistance,’ or the fight against Israel." The AP lamented the Jewish state's dangerous "escalation" in killing Nasrallah and called him a "charismatic and shrewd strategist."
The Washington Free Beacon compiled a roundup of passages from the three obituaries:
Hasan Nasrallah, Hezbollah leader and force in Middle East, is killed (Washington Post)
Hassan Nasrallah, Who Led Hezbollah for Decades, Killed at 64 (New York Times)
Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah transformed the militant group into a potent regional force (Associated Press)
Some Democratic officials expressed their dismay at the Israeli strike that killed Nasrallah. Anti-Semitic Rep. Rashida Tlaib (R., Mich) condemned the attack as a "bloodbath," saying "the U.S. government are conspirators to the war criminal Netanyahu's genocidal plan." Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin called for a "diplomatic solution," saying during a CNN interview that an "all-out war between Lebanese Hezbollah and Israel would be devastating for both Lebanon and Israel. And again, we anticipate that we’d see a number of people displaced, casualties that, you know, equal or exceed what we’ve seen in Gaza."
Many in the Middle East had a different reaction. Syrians in the country's northwestern area, for example, were seen celebrating in the streets and handing out candy following early reports of Nasrallah's death. Nasrallah was crucial in defeating the Syrian revolution, backing the country's dictator, Bashar al Assad, as he massacred hundreds of thousands of civilians.