Over the last two days, Israel has been pounded by hundreds of rockets fired by Palestinian Islamic Jihad in Gaza. Rockets aimed at civilians constitute a clear war crime, and sovereign states are clearly entitled to defend themselves from such barrages by targeting those responsible. That is precisely what Israel has done.
But a casual reader scrolling through the Reuters Twitter feed and viewing one particular tweet would come away with a very different conception of reality. The tweet referenced violence as taking place in Gaza alone, and rather than referring to terrorists in any way, generalized those killed as “Palestinians”.
Violence in Gaza worsens as Israel continues air strikes killing 13 more Palestinians https://t.co/MFPwuSHQHH pic.twitter.com/k3EBUmRZGp
— Reuters (@Reuters) November 13, 2019
There’s just one little problem with the text of that tweet – many of those killed were terrorists in the act of firing rockets at Israel.
We’re used to seeing news agencies, media websites and newspapers avoiding the dreaded T-word. While there’s little hesitation by much of the media to refer to Al Qaeda and ISIS as terrorists, the word “militant” has long been become the euphemism by which the media refer to terrorists attempting to murder Jews and Israelis. But referring to people by nationality blurs the lines even further.
By totally scrubbing any reference to Palestinian violence, a clear distortion of reality is created.
By Reuters’ own admission, the majority of those killed were combatants. In fact, a link to an article on the Reuters is attached to the video – in it, the following sentence appears:
“Medics say 26 Palestinians, including at least 14 gunmen
and six civilians, have been killed”
It’s not just medics who say that the majority of those killed were combatants. At the timing of writing this article, Palestinian Islamic Jihad have publicly claimed 17 of those killed as members of the organization. Twitter user Joe Truzman, who meticulously trawls through Arabic-language media, has compiled a full list:
Since the assassination of Bala Abu al-Ata and the strike against Akram al-Ajouri in #Damascus, a confirmed total of 11 militants have been killed. The majority belonging to Palestinian Islamic Jihad’s military wing and several from Fatah’s al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades. #Gaza #Israel pic.twitter.com/0fSzMFzAV1
— Joe Truzman (@Jtruzmah) November 13, 2019
In the last few hours, Palestinian Islamic Jihad confirmed 4 of their fighters have been killed by IDF airstrikes in the #Gaza Strip. #Israel pic.twitter.com/JUjPj3e5hu
— Joe Truzman (@Jtruzmah) November 13, 2019
Two fighters from the Nasser Salah al-Din Brigades confirmed killed in an IDF airstrike this evening. #Israel #Gaza pic.twitter.com/fW9Kdkx6tq
— Joe Truzman (@Jtruzmah) November 13, 2019
In fact, there are even photographs circulating online showing dead terrorists wearing uniform in a location suitable for firing missiles undetected.
The bodies of two Palestinian Islamic Jihad militants killed by an IDF airstrike earlier today as they setup their launcher. This type of location under the cover of trees is common for mortar teams to setup and launch. #Gaza #Israel pic.twitter.com/CqYD9a41z4
— Joe Truzman (@Jtruzmah) November 13, 2019
The tweet seems to reflect a deeper phenomenon at Reuters: Twitters users browsing through the Reuters Twitter profile see repeated tweets that “fighting” was going on between Israel and Islamic Jihad. Of numerous tweets on the situation, the majority refer to “fighting”, or “Israeli air strikes”, while graphic videos like this show Palestinians mourning and displaying the wreckage resulting from Israel’s strikes against terrorists. Not a single tweet makes clear that hundreds of rockets were fired from Gaza into Israel. In fact, while nine tweets make clear that Israel is striking Gaza, only two explicitly refer to Islamic Jihad firing rockets.
There are no videos dedicated to showing Israelis running from rockets, no articles about Israel’s Iron Dome rocket intercept system and how it is saving countless lives, and no tweets focusing on Palestinian Islamic Jihad’s massive onslaught of over 450 rockets in the space of two days.
Whether Reuters is ignoring this by accident or intentionally misleading its readers, these tweets simply do not adhere to professional standards of journalism.
