While the diplomatic mood in the Mideast may be taking a
turn for the better, one classic pattern of anti-Israel media bias remains
very much intact: When a Palestinian civilian dies under disputed
circumstances, the media (1) overwhelmingly blame Israel, and (2) ascribe a 'revenge
motive' to any subsequent Palestinian terror.
On Monday (1/31), 10-year-old Nuran Deab was struck by a
bullet in southern Gaza and died shortly thereafter. The IDF
immediately suggested the gunshots may have come from nearby Palestinians
firing celebratory shots in the air. Further,
Reuters stated that 'it did not appear that Israeli soldiers some
600 meters away could have seen into the [school] compound from their position
behind high walls.'
Despite this, many news agencies were very quick to promote
the Palestinian version of events, backed by the UN:
●
Agence France-Presse, under the headline 'Palestinian schoolgirl
shot dead by Israeli troops in Gaza,' prominently quoted the PA prime minister
condemning it as 'a crime.' The Israeli denial of responsibility was buried at
the very end of the AFP report.
●
The Independent based its story on a UN official who directly accused the
IDF of firing on Deab, then passed off IDF spokespersons who denied
culpability as 'plainly embarrassed.'
●
Knight Ridder-Tribune quoted both Ahmed Qurei decrying the shooting as an
IDF 'war crime,' and a UN official
condemning 'the Israeli military's indiscriminate firing into civilian areas.'
And this is how a
Reuters photo release portrayed the event
(emphasis added):
This lopsided version of events appears all the more ludicrous given the
Jerusalem Post's
report that PA police have now arrested a Palestinian man for the
shooting.
Comments to AFP:
contact@afp.com
Comments to The Independent:
newseditor@independent.co.uk
STEP TWO
Step two of this dishonest reporting is to ascribe a
'revenge motive' to subsequent
Palestinian terror.Nearly all articles
included a statement similar to this from
Knight Ridder: 'the militant group
Hamas responded [to Deab's death] with a mortar attack on an Israeli
settlement.' (Hamas issued a press announcement to that effect.) The IDF was
thereby blamed for disturbing the 'calm' that had previously held.
Yet Hamas mortar shells and rockets had never
stopped raining on Israeli civilians in Gaza or Sderot ― see reports from
Jan. 24, 26,
and 29.
This episode, therefore, was clearly used by Hamas as a mere excuse for their
ongoing terror.
As we've seen repeatedly in this conflict, the
terrorists use minor grievances ― oftentimes fabricated ― as pretexts to
rationalize their murderous acts against civilians. When
media outlets report these statements from Hamas, et al., without directly questioning
their merit, the media become a tool exploited by terrorists to promote their anti-Israel
campaign.
HonestReporting encourages subscribers to be on the alert for the
'media two-step' of blaming Israel for disputed events, then passing off subsequent
Palestinian terror as 'revenge.'
Thank you for your
ongoing involvement in the battle against media bias.
HonestReporting
