Five months ago, Israel reached a ceasefire agreement with PA President Abbas, Hamas, and Islamic Jihad. Despite the agreement, the terrorist groups have attempted a constant stream of attacks (most thwarted by Israeli security, and under-reported by the media).
Last week was particularly deadly, with an Islamic Jihad suicide bombing outside a Netanya mall that killed five and wounded 90 Israelis, and Hamas rocket attacks over the Gaza border that claimed the life of 22-year old Dana Glakowitz, who had been sitting on her porch.
In response to these ongoing attacks, Israel acted against the Hamas leadership. Two major media outlets defied all logic and chronology to claim that it was Israel’s response that ‘ended’ the ceasefire:
1) Washington Post reported:
The Israeli military killed seven members of Hamas on Friday in rocket strikes that renewed Israel’s policy of assassinating militant Palestinian leaders and effectively marked the end of a five-month truce.
According to the Washington Post, dozens of Hamas and Islamic Jihad attacks did not break the ceasefire, but when Israel acted, that ‘marked the end’. (This WashPost article was also published in the San Francisco Chronicle.)
2) Associated Press:
The Israeli military launched an airstrike Friday on a van carrying Hamas militants and a cache of homemade rockets in a Gaza City street, killing four people in what may be the most serious blow to a 5-month-old truce.
The loved ones of the six murdered Israelis would certainly take issue with AP’s suggestion that it was the IDF’s subsequent response that dealt ‘the most serious blow’ to the truce.
? Comments to Washington Post: [email protected]
? Comments to AP: [email protected]
(Hat tip: LGF)
REUTERS CAVORTS WITH JENIN TERRORIST
Zakaria Zubeidi, ringleader of the Al Aqsa Martryr’s Brigade in Jenin, is on such good terms with local Reuters reporters that he played a cameo role in an informal film they produced for a friend. YNet reports:
The screening, which occurred in a Jerusalem restaurant last March, involved the showing of a video during a private party. “The video’s theme was what Israel would be like in 10 years,” said an Israeli government official who attended the party and viewed the video. “All of a sudden, at the end, there is Zakaria Zubeidi, playing the head of Reuters. Zubeidi was sitting in Reuters’ Jenin office, saying he was Reuters’ chief,” the official said. The party included guests from the BBC, ITN, the Independent newspaper, and French journalists. “They all thought the video was hilarious,” the official said. He added that only a few individuals did not seem amused during the screening.
Zubeidi (at right) heads an organization that has claimed responsibility for more than 300 terrorist attacks in Israel. This is the latest indication that Reuters, whose Mideast reports are widely syndicated in the US and Canada, has lost its neutrality when it comes to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Less than a year ago, Reuters’ top international editor openly acknowledged that his agency’s refusal to call terrorists ‘terrorists’ has less to do with editorial pursuit of objectivity, and is more a response to intimidation from thugs and their supporters.
It now seems that that intimidation has carried over into a warm, casual friendship between terrorist operatives and Reuters staffers. How can such a news outlet be counted on to produce objective reporting?
If your local paper uses Reuters wire stories for coverage of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, HonestReporting encourages you to write a letter to the editor, citing this latest example of Reuters’ lost credibility.
Thank you for your ongoing involvement in the battle against media bias.
HonestReporting
