CNN downplayed an attack on a Jewish holy this week by saying that Joseph’s Tomb in the West Bank had merely caught fire when it had really been torched by Palestinians.
#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
A group of Palestinian Arabs intentionally site fire to Joseph’s Tomb early Friday morning. The attack was reportedly carried out at night because that’s when Jewish devotees under the protection of the Israeli Defense Force go out to pray.
But despite that the holy site appears to have been intentionally targeted by Palestinians, CNN initially characterized the violence in ambiguous terms.
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“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 also originally started this way: “Fire broke out overnight at the compound housing Joseph’s Tomb, a religious site venerated by Jews, the Israel Defense Forces said Friday.”
#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
Those lines have since been changed to: “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.”
Palestinian officials were able to put the fire out before it caused any real damage.
“The terror attack on the Jewish holy site is not the first attempt to destroy or deface it by Palestinians – they tried the same routine in 2014, 2013, 2011, and 2008, as well as earlier this year,” the Daily Wire reported.
The attack early Friday morning marks yet another escalation in the tensions between Israel and Palestinians.
Palestinians in recent months have murdered several Israelis, including civilians ranging from infants to adults. Israelis have been randomly targeted for shootings, stabbings and clubbings.
Western media has largely ignored that these attacks appear to come at the behest of Palestinian government 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 last Friday in an address, “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!”
