AFP Headline, Hamas-Style

AFP reports:

Hamas’s military wing said Wednesday one of its members was involved in an attack in the occupied West Bank, in what was thought to be the first such acknowledgement since a wave of violence began in October.

This is AFP’s headline:

Why, having determined in the story that the statement came from Hamas’s military wing, does AFP attribute it in the headline to a party? AFP has distinguished Hamas’s military wing from its political wing in the story text, yet its headline implies otherwise.

Having presented a terror organization as a political group, AFP further downplays terror by referring to a terrorist as a “fighter.” We are unfortunately all too accustomed to seeing the term “militant” used to describe terrorists but “fighters” is possibly even worse, erasing any indication of the extremism of the subject and possibly even alluding to some sense of nobility involved in violent acts.

A request for an amended headline has been sent to AFP.