News Media Equate Terrorism with Israel’s Defense From Attacks

TEL AVIV – Two articles published in major newspapers this week highlight the ongoing biased media coverage of the wave of Palestinian terror against Israelis, a media watchdog is charging.

In a story on the Israeli seizure of 4,000 Palestinian dolls depicting stone-throwers, the Guardian reported:

“During a recent upsurge in violence between Israelis and Palestinians, both sides have accused each other of inciting violence. Since mid-September, Palestinians have killed 21 Israelis in stabbings, shootings, and deliberate car crashes, while Israelis have killed 117 Palestinians, 76 of them said by Israel to be assailants.”

According to HonestReporting.com, the accusation that “both sides have accused each other of inciting violence” is an appalling instance of moral equivalence and an outright lie. While the Palestinian leadership’s incitement to violence has been well documented  by Breibart Jerusalem, including explicit calls to “murder the Jews,” there is nothing remotely comparable on the part of Israel.

Furthermore, the portrayal of the violence as a cycle wherein Palestinians and Israelis are killing each other is both overly simplified and out of context. It does not account for the fact that Israel is defending its citizens in the face of indiscriminate Palestinian terrorism.

An article in the International Business Times is also guilty of emphasizing a warped moral equivalence, charges Honest Reporting.

That article reads:

“Tensions have continued to mount between Palestinians and Israelis as frustrations continue to grow over Israel’s occupation, which is illegal under international law, with near-daily assaults taking place since 1 October 2015. The attacks have killed 117 Palestinians, 17 Israelis, an American, and an Eritrean.”

The IBT classifies both Palestinian terrorism and Israeli countermeasures as “attacks.” The word denotes active aggression on the part of both parties, even though the Palestinian side is the only one initiating the violence. If the IBT were to apply the same logic to its coverage of terror attacks around the world, the killing of a terrorist in Paris by French police would be categorized as an attack.

The IBT is also quick to pin the blame for the upsurge in terror solely on growing frustrations “over Israel’s occupation which is illegal under international law.” Apart from the fact that its legality is disputed, with many lawmakers insisting otherwise, the deliberate omission of Palestinian incitement, hatred, and religious extremism is demonstrative of the paper’s inherent bias.

These articles join a slew of Israel-related reports from top tier media that are filled with alleged misrepresentation, misleading information, and bias. Breitbart Jerusalem has reported on seemingly questionable headlines from CNN  , the BBC, and others.