Two Palestinians were killed Wednesday afternoon after they went on a stabbing rampage in Israel, but you’d never get that from reading the Associated Press’ headline on the matter.
The global newswire instead packaged the story’s headline as: “2 Palestinians Killed Following Stabbing Attack in Jerusalem.”
The AP story itself was far less vague.
“Two Palestinian assailants were shot and killed on Wednesday after stabbing Jewish pedestrians outside Jerusalem’s Old City, Israeli police said, the latest in an unrelenting wave of violence that has gripped the region,” The AP’s Daniella Cheslow reported.
“One Israeli later died from his wounds and another man, who was apparently wounded by the police as they shot at the Palestinian assailants, also died later,” she added.
#IDF will bring perpetrators to justice, restore the site & ensure that freedom of worship returns to Josephs Tomb pic.twitter.com/33xZoN0KWF
— LTC (R) Peter Lerner (@LTCPeterLerner) October 16, 2015
The attack took place at a popular tourist location outside Jerusalem’s walled Old City.
The two attackers were later identified as Palestinians from the West Bank. They were in their 20s.
Of the three victims who were attacked, two died later and one is still in serious condition. One of the victims died of a stab wound, while another died of a gunshot wound. Authorities believe the latter may have been the tragic victim of police crossfire.
Though the AP story gets the details of the latest Palestinian attack correct, the headline is for some reason vague and misleading.
But when it comes to media covering terror attacks in Israel, this is not new.
In October, CNN downplayed an attack on Joseph’s Tomb in the West Bank by saying that it had merely caught fire when it had really been torched by Palestinians.
The attack on the holy site was reportedly planned for nighttime because that’s when Jewish devotees under the protection of the Israeli Defense Force go out to pray.
Despite that the holy site appeared to have been intentionally targeted by Palestinians, however, CNN initially characterized the violence in ambiguous terms.
“Joseph’s Tomb site catches fire in spate of Palestinian-Israeli violence,” a CNN report originally stated in a headline.
That headline has since been changed to the more accurate, “Joseph’s Tomb site set ablaze amid wave of Palestinian-Israeli violence.”
The story’s opening paragraph also originally began, “Fire broke out overnight at the compound housing Joseph’s Tomb, a religious site venerated by Jews, the Israel Defense Forces said Friday.”
That section was amended later to read, “A group of Palestinians set fire overnight to a compound housing Joseph’s Tomb — a religious site in the West Bank venerated by Jews — sparking condemnations from Palestinian and Israeli authorities.”
Media in the West has mostly ignored that the wave of terror attacks in Israel appear to come at the behest of Palestinian government officials and religious leaders.
“Al Aqsa Mosque is ours. They [Jews] have no right to defile it with their filthy feet,” Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said in response to reports that Israelis wished to approach the Temple Mount. “We bless every drop of blood spilled for Jerusalem, which is clean and pure blood, blood spilled for Allah.”
A Gaza Imam reportedly said in an address in October, “Brothers, this is why we recall today what Allah did to the Jews.”
“Today, we realize why the Jews build walls. They do not do this to stop missiles but to prevent the slitting of their throats,” he said, adding later as he allegedly brandished a knife, “My brother in the West Bank: Stab!”
