AFP was one of those media outlets that we took to task for publishing a false story claiming that a Jerusalem rabbinical court had sentenced a dog to death by stoning. But could AFP make a bad situation worse?
Most of the press employed illustrative photos of cute and vulnerable looking dogs, presumably to elicit support for our furry friend in the face of Jewish religious brutality. AFP, however, chose this photo and the accompanying caption:
What relationship has a photo of a dog outside Gaza to the (false) story of the death sentence dog? None whatsoever unless AFP is inferring that Israelis also mistreat dogs or perhaps even demonstrate a lack of appreciation for living things in general.
Considering that the dog story also involved a lawyer, perhaps AFP might have chosen to illustrate the story with a photo of a Jewish lawyer, which would not have been too difficult to find.
AFP’s inability to unwillingness to separate a story from Israel (even an erroneous one) from the conflict through the use of subliminal association demonstrates a particularly malevolent attitude.
AFP really has gone to the dogs.
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