Jihadist Terrorists Killed; Times Omits the Facts

On November 26, the IDF killed three Salafi jihadist terrorists in the West Bank. The Times of London reports on…

By December 02, 2013

timeslogoOn November 26, the IDF killed three Salafi jihadist terrorists in the West Bank. The Times of London reports on claims by an Islamist terror group with links to Al-Qaeda that the three terrorists were members of that group. Referring to the deaths of the three, it reports:

Palestinian officials have denounced Israeli claims about the men’s affiliations. They also condemned the deaths as “extrajudicial killings”, noting that Israeli special forces shot the men in their car without establishing that they were armed. Firearms and improvised explosions were discovered in the car.

Rather than rely on less-than-reliable Palestinian sources, a professional journalist would have also published the details of the incident from the IDF, which were already in the public domain. On the day of the incident, the Jerusalem Post reported:

The Palestinian terror suspects were in a car that had explosives and firearms in it, when they were met by the counterterrorism unit and additional special forces, who were sent to intercept the vehicle, a senior IDF source said.

Israeli forces opened fire at the car’s wheels, and the suspects fired back. Following an exchange of fire, the two suspects were killed, the source said.

A little over an hour after the firefight that killed the two terrorists, security forces engaged a third armed suspect. The terror suspect was shot dead in the exchange. There were no injuries reported among security forces.

Today’s Daily Telegraph also reports on the same story and includes the following:

Two of the men were shot dead when they opened fire at Israeli troops who tried to arrest them after shooting out the tyres of their car, the army said.

Why then did The Times’ journalist parrot Palestinian claims without checking their veracity first?

[sc:bottomsignup ]

© Divuach Ne’eman R”A, 2025

Simon Plosker

Simon Plosker

With over two decades of experience in various non-governmental organizations in the UK and Israel, Simon Plosker returned to HonestReporting in October 2022 as Editorial Director having previously been part of the organization’s management team from 2005 to 2020.

Prior to his first spell at HonestReporting, Simon worked in Israel for NGO Monitor, BICOM, and served for a short period in the IDF Spokesperson’s Unit. He was Managing Editor of the Geneva-based NGO United Nations Watch for two years before moving back to the frontline defending Israel from media bias.

Simon has a BSoc.Sc in International Studies and Political Science from the University of Birmingham and an MSc in History of International Relations from the London School of Economics. He immigrated to Israel in 2001 from London.

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