A video published on May 12 by the Associated Press (AP) about Israeli police dispersing “protesters” in Jerusalem following the death of Al Jazeera reporter Shireen Abu Akleh did not include a single reference to the violence, fuelled by Palestinian incitement, that has gripped Israel’s capital city in recent weeks.
Someone casually viewing AP’s video could come away with the mistaken impression that Israeli security forces were overreacting to what is seemingly a peaceful protest featuring people doing little more than waving Palestinian flags.
Such a conclusion would fail to take into account the known connection between crowds marching with Palestinian flags and the mob violence that tends to ensue.
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Weeks of Jerusalem Violence Redacted by AP
With proper context, the response of the Israeli police starts to make sense. On the same day of the demonstration covered by AP, a Palestinian man was shot in Jerusalem’s Old City after lunging at officers. According to the police report, the terrorist had attempted to attack a police officer near the flashpoint Temple Mount, running while shouting “Allahu Akbar” (“God is Great” in Arabic).
Yet the incident was not included in AP’s video.
Related Reading: Media Blame Peaceful Jewish Worshippers for Palestinian Temple Mount Violence
This was but the most recent example of Palestinian violence in Jerusalem. A stabbing attack took place on May 9 at the Damascus Gate of the Old City, wounding a Border Police officer. Since this year’s Islamic fasting month of Ramadan, Jerusalem has witnessed a spike in violence. On the second Friday of the holiday, over 150 people were injured, and 400 people were arrested as Palestinians — some of them hurling fireworks, rocks, and petrol bombs — clashed with cops on Temple Mount, Judaism’s holiest site.
Indeed, the riots on Temple Mount were part of a wave of terror attacks across Israel that have left 19 people dead, and a have wounded dozens more.
Rioting With Palestinian Flags
The failure of AP’s video to include crucial background information about Jerusalem being a powder keg for mob violence is especially egregious in light of the fact that the footage features a well-known symbol used by rioters: the Palestinian flag.
This is how the international news network France24 reported on clashes that took place at Jerusalem’s Al-Aqsa Mosque on the final Friday of Ramadan:
In the early afternoon, a crowd of Muslim worshippers gathered at Al-Aqsa. Some people waved Palestinian flags and the colours of the Gaza Strip-based Hamas militant group.” [Emphasis added]
During the same period of time in 2021, the New York Times reported that simmering tensions in Jerusalem included “an unusually high number of Palestinian citizens of Israel [sic] [who] protested in solidarity with Gaza following the airstrikes, with many photographed waving Palestinian flags.”
The airstrikes mentioned by NYT were in response to the launching of rockets from the Gaza Strip, a territory ruled by US-designated terrorist group Hamas, at population centers inside Israel.
Related Video: Unrelenting Palestinian Terrorism Desecrates Jerusalem Holy Sites
Also in 2021, outbreaks of violence on the border between Gaza and Israel included people inside the coastal enclave waving the Palestinian flag.
Meanwhile, Palestinian Authority chief Mahmoud Abbas ordered that flags throughout the West Bank be flown at half-mast every November 2, the anniversary of the Balfour Declaration. Abbas’ move was yet another example of chronic Palestinian rejectionism. Indeed, the core message of the Balfour Declaration is a recognition of the Jewish people’s right to determine their own fate in their own land. According to Abbas:
Our historical position is that we will be with our people to end the murderous occupation so that the state of Palestine will be established and Palestinian flags will be hoisted on the walls of Jerusalem.” [Emphasis added]
Related Reading: Palestinian Leadership’s Rage Against The Balfour Declaration
Unrest in Jerusalem and other parts of Israel this time of year is nothing new: historical data finds a 200 percent increase in Palestinian violence during Ramadan. However, someone with little prior knowledge of this reality who views AP’s video is being kept in the dark about chronic incitement, as well as continued rejection by Palestinian leaders of Israel’s right to exist.
Until the powers that be in Ramallah and Gaza City accept Jewish self-determination, peace will continue to be elusive.
We, therefore, call on our readers to reach out to the Associated Press to — politely but firmly — ask that the video be amended.
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