CNN uses scare quotes to describe ‘terrorist’ attack in Israel

An American veteran was killed in the Jaffa area waterfront Tuesday, and twelve others were wounded, before the assailant, a Palestinian man, was shot and killed by Israeli security forces.

However, despite the body count, and the “lone wolf” pattern that the Palestinian assailant followed, a CNN report, titled “‘Terrorist’ kills U.S. tourist, wounds 10 others in Israel — near Biden visit site,” used quotation marks around the word “terrorist” to describe the nature of fatal attack.

“A stabbing attack — carried out by a ‘terrorist,’ according to authorities — along a popular oceanfront boardwalk around Tel Aviv left an American tourist dead and 10 other people wounded,” the original version of the report read.

“Israeli police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld tweeted that one person was ‘murdered’ and 10 were taken to the hospital after the attack along the Mediterranean Sea,” it added.

Though it’s possible the CNN report was merely trying to quote authorities accurately, it doesn’t explain the third example wherein the article states, “Tuesday’s incident is among a spate of ‘terrorist’ attacks that Israeli authorities have blamed on Palestinians, be they from the West Bank or elsewhere.”

It’s not just that Israeli authorities have blamed Palestinians for the attacks, which are clearly acts of terrorism, as defined by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas’ Fatah political party has actually praised the recent wave of “lone wolf” attacks that have washed over Israel. His party has even lauded the assailants as “martyrs.”

Some social media users were decidedly unimpressed with the CNN report this week:

CNN has since updated the online report so that the quotation marks have been removed from “terrorist” and “murder.”

The headline has also been amended so that it now reads, “American fatally stabbed in Israel terror attack that wounds 10 others.”

Vice President Joe Biden, who is in Israel this week, condemned the attacks. He also criticized Palestine leadership for its failure to rein in the wave of fatal and indiscriminate attacks.

The murder of the U.S. veteran on Tuesday comes as part of a larger trend of Palestinian-led attacks on Israeli police, soldiers and civilians.

“[The attacks have] ranged from stabbings and shootings to cars being rammed into pedestrians and lines at bus stops,” CBS News noted this week. “The assailants have included teenagers, older men with wives and families, and women, which makes them all but impossible to predict, let alone prevent.”

Two Palestinian gunmen were thwarted early Wednesday morning as they attempted to shoot up a bus. Israel police quickly dispatched both would-be terrorists.

A spokesperson for CNN did not respond to the Washington Examiner’s request for comment.