As the world watches the Gaza border ahead of a predicted ground operation by Israeli troops following the horrific terror attack by Hamas on October 7, the Financial Times turned its attention to the simmering tensions in the West Bank
Focusing on the deteriorating security situation over the past week or so, the piece, by the outlet’s cybersecurity correspondent Mehul Srivastava, ‘Miles from Gaza, fear and death stalk the West Bank,’ alleges dozens of Palestinians have died amidst a “febrile atmosphere in the West Bank, which includes East Jerusalem, with daily shootings of Palestinians and an extraordinary Israeli military security blanket.”
Describing the terse mood in the territory, Srivastava ignores the celebrations by Palestinians in the West Bank in response to the Hamas attacks, including huge street parties attended by thousands waving Hamas flags in Ramallah, Hebron, Nablus and Jenin.
Instead, he highlights the recent spike in Palestinian deaths — distorting the facts along the way:
At least 120 West Bank Palestinians were killed this year, either by Israel’s military or armed settlers, before Saturday’s deadly Hamas assault in Israel, according to data from local authorities, as Israel has launched almost daily raids. This makes it one of the most violent periods for the territory since the end of the Second intifada, or uprising, in 2005.
A further 31 have been killed since Saturday, when thousands of armed Hamas militants broke through the Gaza border fence on the other side of the country and killed at least 1,200 Israeli civilians and soldiers — the worst attack inside the Jewish state since it came into existence.”
First, it is unclear what data Srivastava is using for collating the Palestinian death toll in the West Bank this year, but failing to mention that the majority of those killed were claimed by terrorist organizations amounts to nothing short of journalistic malfeasance.
Second, with regard to recent deaths in the territory, it is only eight paragraphs later that readers are told that some of the fatalities “followed alleged attacks on Israeli security forces in the territory.”
Third, and most troublingly, Srivastava fails to give readers an honest explanation about what otherwise appears to be an alarming rise in Palestinian deaths: namely, the huge increase in terror attacks emanating from terror strongholds in the West Bank.
Indeed, when a brief reference is made to the wave of deadly terrorism, the actions of the likes of the Lions’ Den terror group are tacitly excused with the false claim that its attacks targeted “settlers and military personnel.”
When readers are given a little more than a shred of context, it relates to the Al-Aqsa Mosque, which results in Srivastava parroting Hamas talking points:
Friday prayers at the al-Aqsa Mosque in the Old City of Jerusalem, a perennial flashpoint between devout Muslims and the Israeli military that has controlled the site since 1967, threaten to inflame the situation further.”
The suggestion that the Israeli military is frequently targeting “devout Muslims” simply wishing to pray at the mosque is a staggering departure from the truth. Images and videos will attest to the fact that the only people Israeli forces clash with at the holy site are Palestinian rioters, who are in the habit of storing rocks and other projectiles inside the Al-Aqsa in the hopes of provoking another intifada.
Srivastava also reports on how Muslims are “enraged” at rightwing Israeli politicians who are “pushing for expanded Jewish access to the site, including allowing them to pray under the protection of armed Israeli police.” Sadly, no attempt is made to explain why Jews praying at their holiest site provokes such anger among Muslims, or indeed why Jews would need armed protection to pray at all.
Srivastava also mischaracterizes the annual Jerusalem Day celebrations, which he links to the outbreak of the 2021 Hamas-Israel war, explaining the 11-day conflict erupted “after the militant group fired rockets at Jerusalem while settlers marched through the Old City in their annual show of force to celebrate the capture of Jerusalem in the 1967 war.”
Let us be clear, it is both insulting and untrue to describe the largely peaceful celebration of Israel ending the 19-year Jordanian occupation of eastern Jerusalem in which Jews were banned from visiting their most holy sites as a “show of force” that is only attended by settlers.
The situation in the West Bank is worrying right now and the FT is right to highlight this issue. It is not right, however, to distort recent events in the territory to unfairly target the Jewish state.
