Miracle in Qana as AP photographer catches dead arising

James Taranto:

Back in May 2002, we noted that the Israel Defense Forces had provided a reconnaissance video showing a staged funeral of a Palestinian at the "refugee camp" in Jenin, supposedly the site of an Israeli massacre. As Ha'aretz reported at the time:

IDF field intelligence chief, Colonel Miri Eisen, told reporters that the film shows someone who is supposedly dead--and on the way to burial--falling off his stretcher and then running away.

The same scam seems to be popping up in Lebanon--quite literally. Look at this July 30 photo, shot by the Associated Press's Lefteris Pitarakis....

...

It's a bit reminiscent of "Monty Python and the Holy Grail" (The Dead Body That Claims It Isn't: "I'm getting better.")

Plainly this scene was staged for the benefit of the cameras, though it is important to note we know of no evidence that the photographer was complicit in the staging. It is, however, a clear example of how terrorist groups use journalists to spread their propaganda.

...

Click on the link at the top to see the pictures and a blowup. The evidence keeps mounting that the Qana story was a fraud done to try to stop the Israeli offensive, and it did succeed in getting a two day lull, and a rant from Kofi Annan but it appears that the victim offenive is losing momentum at this point. That is not to day that Lebanon is not eager for more victims as we knoted yesterday, the Lebanese Prime Minister's earlier assertion of 40 killed in an Israeli attack was reduced to one. The main stream media seems to be strangely cluecless about this Hezballah/Lebanon tactic. Has anyone challoenged the Prime Minister on these false reports of victims?