For Reuters, the UN is your friend -- except when it blames the Arabs for murder

Reuters correspondents are seemingly enamored with the United Nations.  At least when one or another of its scores of departments, committees, subsidiary bodies, agencies, or related organizations seeks to excoriate Israel for alleged violations of international law.  On the other hand, when it comes to accusations by the United Nations of breaches of UN resolutions by Arab states or, as in the case of assassinated Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik al-Hariri, complicity in murder, Reuters is more likely to give the UN the cold shoulder.

In today's story about Lebanese Prime Minister Saad al-Hariri meeting with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, Reuters correspondents Marwan Makdessi and Nadim Ladki write:

Hariri's "March 14" alliance has accused Syria of assassinating his politician father, Rafik al-Hariri, in February 2005. They also blamed Damascus for attacking and killing other politicians and journalists.  Syria denies the allegations. A special court based in The Hague has yet to indict anyone for the Hariri killing.

Note how gingerly Reuters treats the accusation, failing even to mention that a UN report in 2005 specifically found Syrian officials complicit in the Hariri assassination.  It's just hearsay you see, obviously not worthy of inclusion in the story.

Makdessi and Ladki then report:

Hezbollah, which fought a war against Israel in 2006, is the only armed group in Lebanon. It is considered a terrorist group by Washington but Hariri's government has said it is a legitimate force whose aim is to end Israeli occupation of some Lebanese territory.

Here again, Reuters fails to mention an essential UN finding: that the territory in question -- the Shebaa Farms area -- is not Lebanese.  By omitting this essential information, Reuters encourages its readers to accept the Hariri government's assertion as true and thereby perpetuates Hezbollah propaganda.

Reuters can be quite a fair weather friend when you distract from its agenda.