Two of the world’s leading news services, the Associated Press (AP) and United Press International (UPI), reported inaccurately on the story of a Palestinian woman who was shot dead by Israeli soldiers in the West Bank town of Husan on the morning of April 10.
These headlines give readers the impression of gun-toting IDF soldiers arbitrarily opening fire on an ‘unarmed’ — and thus innocent — civilian.
She was anything but.
Join the fight for Israel’s fair coverage in the news
In fact, Israeli media disseminated footage of the woman raising her hands as she ran toward a checkpoint; this, after reportedly ignoring warning shots directed toward the sky.
Fact Check: A Palestinian mother came to the checkpoint and walked towards soldiers, when they told her to stop, she started to run with her hand up.
The soldiers yelled, then shot in the air, then shot one bullet into her leg, then called for an ambulance, and tried to help her pic.twitter.com/Z3su5q4zSx
— Emily Schrader – אמילי שריידר (@emilykschrader) April 10, 2022
That a wave of Palestinian terror has washed over Israel over the past month, prompting heightened security measures, is seemingly inconsequential for the Associated Press, whose piece fails to note the mitigating factors that forced the IDF soldier to stop the woman by shooting at the lower part of her body.
Instead, AP turns widely available evidence into an allegation:
At a military checkpoint near the West Bank city of Bethlehem, Israeli soldiers opened fire at a woman who the army said failed to heed calls to stop and ignored warning shots fired into the air.”
Even assuming that the Associated Press was unaware of the existence of the footage, journalists at the wire service nevertheless should have a firm grasp of the fact that the April 10 incident might have constituted from the perspective of Israeli security forces the latest in a series of Palestinian acts of terrorism.
Indeed, the AP notes that “Palestinian assailants often carry out attacks at checkpoints in the West Bank” — but then sidesteps the reality that the whole of Israel is currently under attack.
To its credit, UPI does mention the footage, providing a link to a local report on the story. Overall, though, this makes the news outlet’s decision to run with the headline, Israeli soldiers shoot and kill unarmed Palestinian woman in West Bank, all the more egregious.
Related Reading: The Danger Of Misleading Headlines About Terror Wave In Israel
What the Associated Press and United Press International overlook is that Israeli security forces have on numerous occasions in the past been targeted by Palestinian women, as well as those eyeing “suicide by cop”; namely, intentionally drawing fire from security services by acting in a suspicious or threatening manner.
Moreover, checkpoints are a frequent target of Palestinian women because the security barriers Israel has erected have contributed to preventing terrorist infiltrations by the usual suspects: Palestinian men. As a result, female suicide bombers hiding explosives under their clothing, not to mention the use of ambulances to smuggle weapons to terrorists, have become increasingly used to attack Israelis.
Yet, when all readers see is ‘unarmed’ in a headline, they are highly unlikely to internalize any of this relevant information.
Related Reading: Glossing Over Arab Violence Against Israelis, Forbes Omits Key Facts and Crucial Context in Profile of Palestinian Activist
Meanwhile, another possible attack has received virtually no international media coverage. A man was shot dead on April 10 close to Israel’s southern city of Ashkelon after attempting to steal a weapon from a female soldier at a bus stop.
According to local media, the suspect was identified as a Jewish Israeli man in his 20s who had escaped from a mental health facility.
The IDF confirmed the incident, saying in a statement: “An IDF officer foiled an attempt to steal an IDF weapon near the city of Ashkelon. The suspect was neutralized.”
Yet if a story can’t be framed to fit into the Palestinian victimhood narrative, then there’s evidently no compelling reason to report on it.
The unfortunate event in Ashkelon also serves to show that the IDF does not distinguish between Israelis and Palestinians when it comes to maintaining security.
Reuters: No Difference Between Death of Innocents and Killing of Terrorists
Another story, this one by Reuters, ostensibly related to the latest terror wave in Israel opens with this headline:
The issue here is the manner in which the deaths of innocent men and women are casually lumped in with the killing of their assailants. This creates a false sense of moral equivalency.
Reuters, read by more than 1 billion people worldwide, also appears to be engaging in another kind of false equivalence. The news agency uses the term ‘bloodshed’ rather selectively:
- Myanmar crackdown claims youngest victim as junta blames protesters for bloodshed
- DR Congo declares state of siege over eastern bloodshed
One may reasonably wonder whether reporters and editors at Reuters understand that Israel is trying to defend its citizens against a terrorist onslaught. Instead, the global news organization has seemingly lumped the democratic Jewish state into a category filled with some of the world’s worst human rights violators.
The above headlines about Israel misrepresent reality, making it difficult for readers to grasp what’s actually taking place amid the most deadly Palestinian terror campaign in years.
But when some 8 out of 10 people read an article’s headline and get no further, it’s crucial that the world’s leading media outlets provide an accurate depiction of the situation.
We call on The Associated Press, United Press International and Reuters to amend their headlines to provide a factual account of the events unfolding in Israel. We encourage you to contact the AP, UPI and Reuters’ Ethics & Standards Department in New York.
Liked this article? Follow HonestReporting on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and TikTok to see even more posts and videos debunking news bias and smears, as well as other content explaining what’s really going on in Israel and the region.
