Israel, a country that had long dealt with terrorism and violence, is in the midst of facing a new threat. Shying away from bombings and car attacks, Palestinian terrorists have shifted to the tactic of having young men with knives attack innocent Israelis on the street. The increasing attacks are essentially suicidal, always ending with Israeli police either killing or severely wounding the terrorists.

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Now for any sane journalists, the story here is clearly that teenagers are running around with knifes attacking random innocents. Unless, of course, you’re inclined to cast Israel in a negative light no matter what the circumstances.

Yes, seriously. The Canadian Toronto Star got in on the action as well.

Huh? Israeli police shoot

Palestinians… in knife attacks? How does that make any sense? It’s almost like there’s some major context missing…

Even the Rupert Murdoch-owned Wall Street Journal, which typically has a center-right editorial stance, got in on the action, posting their story to social media with the headline, “Two Palestinian Teens Killed, Two Injured By Israeli Police.”

The lack of context from the headline could be chalked up to space issues. But the post’s description reads: “Israeli police shot and killed two Palestinian teenagers and injured two others in Jerusalem on Monday after knife-wielding assailants attacked Israeli civilians and officers…” Gosh, why were the Israeli police attacking these poor Palestinians when those knife-wielding assailants were still on the loose?

Of course, all these headlines are technically accurate. But simply imagine the outrage if a foreign news outlet had ran a headline reading “After Boston Bombing, Police Shoot Muslim Boy in Suburban Neighborhood.” The omission of information intentionally distorts the truth and makes the heroes of the story the

villains. For readers who never get past the headline (aka, most people), that inaccurate impression sticks.

These headlines come a week after Al Jazeera’s take on a Palestinian knife attack was “Palestinian shot dead after fatal stabbing in Jerusalem; 2 Israeli victims also killed.” Likewise, the BBC’s headline read “Palestinian shot dead after Jerusalem attack kills two.” Setting aside the clear obfuscation of who was actually behind the attack, both headlines take the extra step of framing the dead murderer as the real victim and treats the actual innocents as afterthoughts.

One nasty headline smearing the Israeli authorities could be a mistake. Two is troubling. But at least five in the span of a week? Newspaper editors across the world need to take a serious look at whether or not the biases they bring to the table are affecting their coverage of a conflict that’s already fraught with misunderstanding.

[Image via Wikipedia]
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Tags: Israel, LA Times, Media, Palestinians, Toronto, Wall Street Journal