Reuters Bureau Chief Falsely Claims Israeli Agents Incite Palestinians to Throw Stones

UPDATE

Luke Baker’s false tweet has spread to other media outlets, including the Washington Post and Times of London.

Read “More Media Cite False Tweet as Credible Source.”

 

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Many news outlets featured footage taken from near Ramallah showing Israeli undercover agents disguised as Arabs infiltrating a mob of Palestinian rock throwers. The agents successfully broke up the demonstration by firing in the air and made a number of arrests.

Reuters’ Jerusalem bureau chief Luke Baker made a serious allegation on his Twitter feed:

 

Footage in Ramallah shows undercover #Israeli police throwing stones at Israeli forces and inciting #Palestinian youth to do the same

— Luke Baker (@LukeReuters) October 7, 2015

 

Baker’s implication is that Israeli provocateurs deliberately incited a mob of Palestinians to attack the Israeli police, therefore giving them the excuse to arrest the youths. Given the current security situation, it’s a stretch to believe that Palestinians aren’t capable of instigating a confrontation with Israeli security forces and Baker offers nothing to back up his allegation.

Indeed, the footage published by AFP offers no evidence that the undercover agents are inciting the Palestinians. The only incitement appears to be coming from Luke Baker as his conspiratorial imagination encouraged anti-Semites on Twitter such as this.

 

@LukeReuters @MLKstudios conspiracy & false flag is Zionist speciality — Ismail Azad (@ismailazad78) October 7, 2015

 

Some media such as Euro News also followed Baker’s lead by using his tweet as a credible source and making it the focus of its own story, writing: “A correspondent from Reuters news agency said he observed Israeli undercover agents disguised as Palestinian youths “inciting” stone throwing in Ramallah.”

 

 

Unfortunately for Luke Baker, AFP’s Andrea Bernardi, who recorded the footage of the incident, also blogged what he saw. The description includes the following:

The agents had arrived after the clashes had started and had been among the protesters for a while before making themselves known.

So if the clashes had already started and Palestinians were already throwing rocks at Israeli police before the undercover agents arrived, how then could they have “incited” the mob?

Sorry Luke Baker but it looks like you’ve been busted.

You can view the footage here.

The IDF also shot its own footage of the incident, which IDF spokesman Lt. Colonel Peter Lerner has published on his Facebook page and sums up the real story.

 

 

HonestReporting CEO Joe Hyams comments:

The real incitement in this story is Luke Baker’s against Israel and those who are risking their lives in the face of this current wave of Palestinian violence.

 

Baker, as the Reuters bureau chief, represents a serious news organization and has a responsibility to promote professional journalism. Making such a serious allegation against Israeli security forces without any evidence and in the face of the facts as provided by his own competitors at AFP, is an embarrassment to Reuters and he should publicly retract his slur and apologize.

 

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