On November 15, 2022, Israel suffered yet another deadly terror attack when a Palestinian man went on a stabbing and car-ramming spree outside the West Bank city of Ariel, leaving three Israelis dead and three more wounded.
In reporting on the attack, several mainstream media outlets sought to contextualize it by mentioning Israel’s presumptive right-wing coalition government as well as the IDF’s continued efforts to counter Palestinian terrorism.
However, by invoking these red herrings, the mainstream media failed to mention the most obvious context of Palestinian violence: Continued incitement against Israel by the Palestinian Authority and Palestinian terror organizations.
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Ben Gvir & Breaking the Wave: The Media’s Misleading Contexts
In its attempt to contextualize the recent Palestinian terror attack and other instances of Palestinian violence, a number of media organizations made mention of the fact that the incoming Israeli government is a coalition of right-wing and religious parties led by former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Reuters titled its report on the attack “Palestinian kills three in West Bank as Israeli politics veers rightward” while the Washington Post mentioned that “The attack coincides with a swearing-in ceremony in the Israeli Parliament. Former prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu clinched a decisive victory in the Nov. 1 vote, in part thanks to support from the far-right party Religious Zionism, whose members have pledged to intensify Israel’s crackdown against Palestinians.”
Similarly, the BBC’s report featured the following excerpt: “The attack comes as Israel’s prime minister-designate is in the process of forming a new right-wing government. Elections earlier this month saw a bloc led by Benjamin Netanyahu win enough seats to take power, with the support of a far-right party, one of whose leaders has vowed to deport terrorists.”
Related Reading: Home Demolitions: ‘Blame Israel First’ Media Fail to Adequately Explain Complex Issue
By mentioning Israel’s emerging right-wing government coalition in an article about a Palestinian terror attack, these media organizations are seemingly insinuating that the ascension of a right-wing Israeli government might be a contributing factor to the proliferation of Palestinian terror attacks against Israeli civilians.
This claim was made explicit by Peter Beinart during an interview with Slate magazine a couple of days prior to the Ariel terror attack, where he foretold that the future Israeli government will lead to the “possibility of just terrible violence.”
However, while history shows that Palestinian terrorism is not tied to right-wing or left-wing Israeli governments (for instance, this current terror wave began during the tenure of one of Israel’s most ideologically diverse coalition governments), this attempt at contextualizing Palestinian terrorism is dangerous as it seemingly seeks to relieve terrorists of some of the responsibility for their heinous act and lay some of the blame at the feet of those who voted for the right-wing parties.
Related Reading: CNN Downplays Wave of Palestinian Terrorism With Bizarre Comparison to ‘Attacks by Jewish Settlers’
Another way that the mainstream media sought to contextualize the recent Ariel terror attack is by mentioning Israel’s ongoing counter-terror operations in Palestinian population centers in the West Bank.
In its report on the attack, the Associated Press wrote that “It was the latest assault in a wave of Israeli-Palestinian violence this year that has seen Palestinian attackers target Israeli civilians and near nightly Israeli arrest raids that have fueled unrest in the occupied territory” while the Washington Post reported that “The stabbing comes amid near-daily raids on Palestinian areas by Israeli forces in retaliation for earlier attacks and as a new right-wing government promising even harsher tactics comes to power.”
Similar to the mentioning of the incoming Israeli government as a context for Palestinian terrorism, the referencing of Israel’s ongoing counter-terror operations seemingly releases Palestinian terrorists of their agency and seeks to shift some of the blame to Israel itself.
Related Reading: As Bad As Wrong: The Danger Of Misleading Headlines About Terror Wave In Israel
Incitement to Violence: The Media’s Missing Context
When attempting to provide the context for Palestinian terrorism, one area that many mainstream media organizations seemingly ignored entirely was the ongoing violent incitement against Israel by the Palestinian Authority (PA) and Palestinian terror groups.
In the weeks before the attack outside Ariel, the 18-year-old Palestinian terrorist would have had the opportunity to be exposed to the following instances of incitement to violence and terror:
- A November 6 article in Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, the official daily newspaper of the PA, which claimed “there is nothing more precious” than being a “Martyr for the homeland.”
- Sirhan Yousef, a Fatah official, exclaiming on the Al-Alam network on November 6 that “Resistance is the only (way), in all its forms: armed struggle, popular Intifada, knives, and vehicle-ramming attacks.”
- A representative of Hamas on Al-Aqsa TV encouraging viewers to use YouTube and social media to learn how to use weapons in order to attack Israelis (November 5 2022).
- Video from a November 14 rally in memory of Yasser Arafat at Birzeit University. The rally included the display of automatic weapons, posters of terrorists who died in battle with Israeli security forces and people dressed up as suicide bombers.
Students from the Fatah bloc at Birzeit University commemorate the anniversary of Arafat's death. A little bit of everything on display including female militants, dummy suicide vests, militants representing Katibat Jenin and the Lions' Den. pic.twitter.com/wnpa13gJjU
— Joe Truzman (@JoeTruzman) November 15, 2022
From the above, it is clear that there is an issue with continuous incitement to violence against Israelis emanating from the official organs of the Palestinian Authority and the terror groups that are allowed to thrive under the PA’s rule.
When the media turns a blind eye to this growing problem and instead seeks to contextualize Palestinian terror by solely focusing on Israeli actions, this not only does a disservice to those who rely on them for accurate reporting but also serves to embolden those who thrive on violence within the region.
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