[simiones]

The message is not addressed to Hezbollah, it is addressed to the citizens of Lebanon. It is a threat against the civilians in an entire country: Israel is going to kill you the way we are killing the people of Gaza, unless you yourselves take some steps to distance yourselves from them.

Imagine what outcry there would be if Iran came out and said the same thing, warning the civilians of Israel to distance themselves from the IDF, lest they become collateral damage.

[crabbone]

Yes, it is addressed to the citizens of Lebanon... why would you think this is a necessary detail to clarify?

It is a threat, alright, but it's only realistic to say that if Hezballah is where it is, then these citizens of Lebanon are held hostages by Hezballah, so they shouldn't have any illusions about what is going to happen.

But no, it's not Israel who is going to kill them. It's Hezballah. Metaphorically, Israel is the train coming to the platform, while Hezballah is the guy who pushes the other guy on the tracks as the train approaches. Citizens of Lebanon being killed in this way have to thank Hezballa for their fate. This is the point of the message.

In the trolley problem, the IDF chose to direct the trolley towards the Lebanese citizens in order to spare the Israeli citizens, and this is what it's telling them. Hezballa is the guys pushing the trolley.

> Imagine what outcry there would be if Iran

Iran are scumbags who say plenty of much worse stuff on regular basis. Nobody would notice this particular statement because that'd be just Tuesday by Iranian standards. There'd be no outcry because people get used to the way things are, even if things are bad.

[simiones]

> why would you think this is a necessary detail to clarify?

Because it makes it a threat against the civilian population of a country.

> But no, it's not Israel who is going to kill them. It's Hezballah. Metaphorically, Israel is the train coming to the platform, while Hezballah is the guy who pushes the other guy on the tracks as the train approaches. Citizens of Lebanon being killed in this way have to thank Hezballa for their fate. This is the point of the message.

This is a completely silly argument. The people bombing you are the people killing you. That they claim to have some higher purpose is irrelevant. Hezbollah at best presents a minor threat to civilians in Israel, claiming that they are an existential threat that would justify scorching the civilian population of an entire country is ludicrous.

Let's also not forget that Hezbollah itself was formed as a defense force trying (and eventually succeeding) to drive out the Israeli invasion and occupation of Lebanon. So, by your own logic (that I don't share), we should say that it's "actually" Israel who is responsible for all of the deaths that Hezbollah caused, since Hezbollah's formation is a consequence of Israel's previous attack on Lebanon. It's like a trolley problem: Hezbollah chose to direct the trolley at Israeli soldiers and citizens in order to free the Lebanese tied to the tracks - but it was the IDF pushing that trolley in the first place.