AP’s He Said/She Said Morality

This Associated Press snippet about the list of 26 Palestinian prisoners to be released on Tuesday says a lot:

Most Palestinians view prisoners as heroes, regardless of their acts, arguing they made personal sacrifices in the struggle for independence.

Many Israelis view those involved in killings as terrorists for killing civilians.

AP clearly doesn’t want to judge the morality of terror, but it can’t ignore the matter because all the Palestinians up for release are either murderers, or failed in their attempt to kill Israelis.

So stuck in nutty neutral mode, AP reverts to he said/she said journalism. Quote both sides as equivalent “views,” file the story, and wash your hands.

This moral ambiguity is a failure because AP wouldn’t dare write the same snippet about other terrorists. Can you imagine the wire service ever writing this?

Most Chechens view Dzhokhar Tsarnaev as a hero, regardless of his acts, arguing he made personal sacrifices in the struggle for Islam.

Many Bostonians view those involved in killings as terrorists for killing civilians.