Israel has been accused of massacres in Jenin, destroying the World Trade Center, complicity in Abu Ghraib torture, even a tsunami. So perhaps it was only a matter of time before Israeli prison guards would be accused of desecrating the Koran too.
The differences between this and Newsweek’s discredited coverage of Guantanamo Bay are important to recognize. With Gitmo, Newsweek relied on an anonymous source who didn’t have as much information as the reporters thought he did. And the source of the Megiddo allegations? The prisoners themselves, who claim guards ripped up three of the books during a routine search that turned up 81 cell phones and 40 knives. The Jerusalem Post quoted prison officials saying that guards only flipped through one Koran while searching for items commonly hidden inside books.
So far, AP coverage of the prisoners is skeptical enough, while Reuters quotes guards saying that the Koran in question appears intact. But headlines alone could be enough to create a scandal — a headline in The Scotsman read:
Israeli Soldiers ‘Desecrated Koran During Riot’
Unfortunately, sensational Arab headlines only add fuel to the fire. Newsweek already learned that lesson the hard way.
