Stones, Motolov Cocktails and Misleading Captions in Jerusalem

 
With the developing news of yet another terror attack in Jerusalem, real events on the ground continue to ratchet up tension in the holy city. Inaccurate and misleading media coverage of these events, including recent inflammatory photo captions, one of which was subsequently corrected, can also inflame the situation. 
 
A recent CNN photo caption and article erroneously reported that activist Yehuda Glick, the victim of attempted murder, is an “advocate of Jewish access to Muslim holy sites.” In fact, Glick is an advocate of Jewish prayer rights on the Temple Mount, the holiest site in Judaism and the third holiest site in Islam. Glick advocates for access for Jewish worshippers to pray on the Temple Mount because it is Judaism’s holiest site, not because it is a Muslim holy site.
 
The misleading caption was:
 
 
A CNN news article contained the identical mischaracterization of Glick’s activities, stating:
 
 
Following communication from CAMERA’s Israel office, CNN editors commendably amended the caption as follows:
 
 
Similarly, editors modified the misleading reference in the article, which now states:
 
 
Israeli Flag Atop the Dome of the Rock?
 
Not for the first time, The Los Angeles Times Web site contains misleading, inflammatory content on the sensitive Temple Mount area. A photograph posted on the site yesterday, together with an incomplete caption, gives the false and highly inflammatory appearance that an Israeli flag is literally flying atop of the Islamic Dome of the Rock on the Temple Mount. If an Israeli flag was indeed flying on top of the mosque, this would be huge provocation which would surely ignite the entire region.
 
 
The original photo caption from EPA (see screen capture below of the EPA caption from the Newscom photography site) made clear that the flag was actually flying from the roof of an apartment in the Jewish Quarter behind the Dome of the Rock. By omitting this information, Times readers would wrongly believe that Israelis planted their flag on top of the Muslim shrine.
 
 
CAMERA has contacted Times editors. Stay tuned for an update.
 
AP Caption Downplays Palestinian Violence
 
While the aforementioned cases falsely depicted Israeli provocations of Muslims that never happened, the following AP photo caption downplays Arab violence:
 
 
The caption states: “Palestinian youths throw stones during clashes with Israeli border police. . .” While the man on the left is throwing stones, the man in the foreground on the right, the most prominent person in the photograph, is clearly preparing to throw a Molotov cocktail.
 
The incomplete caption which downplays the extent of the violent activities on the part of the Palestinian rioters appears also on the CNN Web site.
 
 
Here is another AP photograph, also by photographer Mahmoud Illean, of the same Palestinian holding a lit Molotov cocktail the same day:
 
 
Editors at AP and CNN have declined to clarify the captions which minimize the Arab violence by referring only to Palestinians throwing stones, and by o
mitting mention of the use of Molotov cocktails.

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