Hamas last month called on Palestinians in Jerusalem and the West Bank to “escalate the resistance [sic] against the Zionist enemy” using “all tools and forms.” Since the US-designated terror group ruling the Gaza Strip issued its call for violence, numerous Israelis have been seriously injured in terror attacks. The Jewish state also mourned its first civilian death since the 11-day Hamas-initiated conflict in May.
By ignoring Hamas’ rampant incitement, international news outlets are effectively minimizing the effects of, and a core reason for, Palestinian terrorism against Israelis.
But HonestReporting is fighting back.
Since our last impact report, we have produced 19 widely-shared news critiques, six videos and five educational articles. Furthermore, over the course of five weeks, our Twitter posts garnered over 1.1 million views.
We once again had a far-reaching impact by helping to induce several media corrections.
Join the fight for Israel’s fair coverage in the news
Just days ago, a slanted Washington Post (WaPo) article made stark how facts and evidence are seemingly subservient to the “blame Israel” narrative.
On December 4, around 4:30 PM local time, a Palestinian terrorist attacked an Orthodox Jew near Jerusalem’s Damascus Gate. Security camera footage released within two hours of the event shows the assailant repeatedly stabbing Avraham Elimelich before being shot by Israeli Border Police officers.
While clear proof of the terrorist act was promptly made available, WaPo hours later in its initial reporting nevertheless described the perpetrator as an “alleged Palestinian attacker” even while confirming his death. Amid subsequent criticism, including an HonestReporting Twitter campaign about the incident, the headline was amended to read, “Clashes break out in Jerusalem after Palestinian who stabbed Israeli is killed by police.”
And see this awful @WashingtonPost headline from earlier today.
That is has now been corrected does not absolve the Post of responsibility for failing to report the facts accurately from the start. pic.twitter.com/bfOwNoOT0K
— (((Emanuel Miller))) (@emanumiller) December 4, 2021
Saturday’s incident was at least the sixth attack in Israel’s capital since September. In more than one instance, the corresponding news headlines blatantly blurred the distinction between the Palestinian terrorists and their victims.
For example, on November 21 a Palestinian gunman opened fire in Jerusalem’s Old City, killing one Israeli civilian and injuring several more. Yet, CNN mangled its headline to such an extent that the story ended up packaged as a vague “Jerusalem attack” with it unclear who was the perpetrator and who were the victims.
This, despite the fact that Hamas had already taken responsibility for the shooting.
We took immediate action: Our related article and accompanying social media post went viral, the latter having reached some 450,000 people and been retweeted over 1,000 times. CNN subsequently changed the title of its piece to include that the gunman was indeed a Hamas terrorist, and his targets were Israeli.
Fixed your headline for you, @CNN. pic.twitter.com/ui4s4s1yEg
— HonestReporting (@HonestReporting) November 21, 2021
NBC News similarly obfuscated Palestinian terrorism when it ran a story titled, “Israeli police shoot to death Palestinian woman in Jerusalem’s Old City.” What went unmentioned is that the woman had attempted to stab security forces, with videos and photos from the crime scene showing a large knife.
After we highlighted the issue, NBC updated its headline to: “Palestinian woman shot dead after attempted stabbing, police in Israel say.”
After attempting to STAB them.
But readers scanning headlines at the @NBCNews website wouldn't know that. pic.twitter.com/5ZiPJPmhNP
— HonestReporting (@HonestReporting) September 30, 2021
Hamas’ ongoing calls for violence manifested in tragedy again on Monday morning when a Palestinian rammed his vehicle into a security checkpoint in the West Bank. An Israeli guard was severely injured in the attack, which was praised by Hamas as a “resistance operation.”
As we continue to fight for accuracy and fairness in reporting on the Arab-Israeli conflict, we ask you to support our work by regularly visiting our website and signing up to receive our free IsraBites newsletter.
We also encourage our readers to contact us if you spot anti-Israel bias in the media and to share our articles through your social media channels.
Lastly, you can help fund our work by making a donation.
Together, we will continue to ensure that media outlets are held to account.
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Featured Image: Ahmad Gharabli/AFP via Getty Images
