After receiving substantial blowback about their piece on a mob of Palestinians setting fire to a Jewish holy site in the West Bank, CNN has stealth-edited its story substantially to more accurately represent what actually happened on the ground late Thursday.
The piece, originally titled: “Joseph’s Tomb site catches fire in spate of Palestinian-Israeli violence,” has been changed to, “Joseph’s Tomb site set abalze amid wave of Palestinian-Israeli violence.”
The first paragraph of the story was completed changed.
CNN first reported that a “fire broke out at the compound,” while refusing to initially report the fact that a Palestinian mob torched the Jewish site. Even after Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas condemned the actions, CNN made it appear as if the fire started spontaneously.
The new first paragraph of the CNN story reads:
A group of Palestinians set fire overnight to a compound housing Joseph’s Tomb — a religious site in the West Bank venerated by Jews — sparking condemnations from Palestinian and Israeli authorities.
In the second paragraph of the story, the CNN reporters now observe that “the tomb appeared to be unharmed,” but new photos of the damage show that the site has been severely damaged.
Reading further, virtually every paragraph of the story has been altered.
Another anti-Israel line that was completely lifted from the first published edition of the story read: “Palestinian resentments are as old as the 48-year Israeli occupation, but even with them, there have been times when Israelis and Palestinians have gotten along better.”
Additionally, the most recent story does not acknowledge that CNN reporter Greg Botelho contributed to the piece, but the first published piece did.
CNN offered no explanation to its readers, other than the fact that the story was “updated” at 12:19 PM ET.
Earlier, Breitbart News was among several news networks that pointed out CNN’s bias in its initial reporting on the incident.