Palestinian Stabbing Attack Prompts Media Headline Fails

In the third incident of its type in a week, a Palestinian terrorist was shot and killed after attempting to stab a Border Policeman at the Tapuach Junction in the West Bank on Monday. According to YNet News:

Police said the attacker, Mohammed Amsha, 25, from a village near Jenin, arrived at the Tapuach Junction checkpoint and told the Border Police soldiers stationed there that he was feeling unwell.

 

The troops instructed him to approach so they could help him, but once he came within a short distance of them he pulled out a knife and attacked to stab one of the soldiers.

 

The soldier was only lightly wounded and succeeded in pushing the attacked back, while another Border Policeman shot and neutralized the attacker.

The New York Times covered the story with this headline:

So, despite the fact that the incident was clearly initiated by an act of Palestinian violence, the headline refers to a “confrontation” implying equal responsibility to the Israeli police. That the headline fails to mention that the Palestinian was shot after and as a result of stabbing a policeman displays clear headline bias on the part of the New York Times.

Check out this headline in the Irish Times on the same incident:

From the headline and the sub-header, the casual reader might get the impression that an unwell Palestinian approached a group of soldiers and their reaction was to shoot him dead for no apparent reason.

So why then did the headline not match the reality that is explained in the article’s opening paragraph?

A Palestinian man has been shot dead by Israeli police troopers after he stabbed and lightly wounded one of them at a military checkpoint in the occupied West Bank, a police spokeswoman has said.

Bottom line – the Palestinian attacked and stabbed a soldier, an unarguably vital piece of context that has gone missing from both the New York Times and Irish Times headlines.