UPDATE
As a result of HonestReporting’s complaint, The Independent has amended a small portion of the story text to make the location of the tunnel clearer (added text underlined):
While a welcome addition to the text, it does not, however, address the bulk of the complaints as outlined below.
The Independent’s Bethan McKernan regularly has a hard time disguising her inherent anti-Israel bias. Her report on the Israeli destruction of a cross-border terror tunnel, however, plumbs new depths.
Let’s start with the headline:
The destruction of the tunnel took place on the Israeli side of the border, within Israeli territory and, according to the IDF, used conventional weaponry.
There was no air strike.
The Independent’s story however, claims:
While the IDF did not elaborate on how the tunnel was destroyed, Palestinian news agency Wafa reported five missiles hit the tunnel east of the town of Khan Younis, two kilometres (1.2 miles) away from the border wall.
The WAFA version of events that McKernan refers to is a virtual piece of fiction.
For example:
Reports said Israel fired five missiles at the tunnel that was being dug east of Khan Younis and which Israel claims was leading to its territory.
Medical reports in Gaza said most of those killed died after Israel fired missiles at the tunnel as rescuers were attempting to dig out those trapped inside. Some apparently died from inhaling poisonous gas reportedly fired by the Israeli air force at the tunnel.
Lie #1: Israel claims the tunnel was leading to its territory.
Truth: The tunnel was destroyed within Israeli territory.
Lie #2: Israel fired missiles and poisonous gas as rescuers were attempting to dig out those trapped inside.
Truth: Israel targeted the tunnel with conventional mean and not missiles and did not deliberately target the terrorists. Most of those who were killed and injured were a result of the tunnel collapse, smoke inhalation and possible secondary explosions not initiated by Israel. The poison gas charge is simply a libel.
This is this where McKernan gets her information?
Disturbingly it appears so as she falls for the propaganda and fails to point out that two kilometers east of Khan Younis is… inside Israel!
Thus, The Independent’s story leaves the false impression that an air strike took place on Gaza within Palestinian administered territory.
But maybe this is hardly surprising given that a substantial part of the story reads like a Hamas propaganda piece. Take the opening paragraph:
Palestinian militant groups have vowed to respond to an Israeli attack on a militant tunnel that killed seven people and injured nine more in the most dramatic ratcheting of tensions between the Gaza Strip and Israel since 2014’s Operation Protective Edge.
The story is framed as an “Israeli attack” despite the fact that Israel was responding to a clear terrorist threat in the form of a tunnel that had been dug under the border in the direction of the Israeli village of Kissufim.
Islamic Jihad subsequently confirmed that the tunnel had been dug with the intent to kidnap Israeli soldiers in order to facilitate prisoner swaps.
And what exactly is a “militant tunnel?” Tunnels do not display militancy. That is the purview of those terrorists who dig them with the intent to carry out attacks on Israeli territory against Israelis.
The framing of the story as an act of Israeli aggression is buttressed by quotes from terrorists:
“We affirm our right to respond to the aggression of the occupation today,” the Islamic Jihad Movement said in a statement overnight.
Hamas, the militant organisation which rules the Strip, said in a Twitter post that the attack constitutes a “a new war against Gaza people“.
Ultimately, Bethan McKernan and The Independent have published a story whose entire framing is based on false information and terrorist propaganda.
HonestReporting has lodged a complaint with The Independent.
