In Journalism ‘Attempt,’ Reuters Misses Genadi Kaufman’s Murder

Reuters Corrects:

After CAMERA informed journalists of problems detailed in this article, Reuters corrected its captions. See below for our detailed update.

A series of Reuters photo captions March 31 grossly mischaracterize the  Dec. 7 fatal Palestinian stabbing attack on Genadi Kaufman, an Israeli civilian, as an “attempted” stabbing of a “soldier.”
 
The inaccurate captions are wrong on two counts. They err: “According to the Israeli military, Ihab Maswadeh was shot dead by Israeli troops after he attempted to stab an Israeli soldier last December.” (Emphasis added.) 
 
First, Maswadeh not only “attempted” to stab an Israeli. He actually succeeded, striking his victim several times in the upper body and inflicting fatal wounds. The victim, Genadi Kaufman, died of his wounds three weeks later. Second, Kaufman was a gardener working near the Cave of the Patriarchs, not a soldier.
 
The Reuters photos with their captions follow:
 
 
The caption states:
 
 
 
The caption reads:
 
 
 
The caption is:
 
 
 
This caption, like the others, errs:
 
 
On April 1, Haaretz noted the demolition, reporting:
On Wednesday, the IDF Civil Administration demolished the Hebron home of Ihab Fathi Zakaria Masudi, the Palestinian terrorist who stabbed Genadi Kaufman multiple times near the Tomb of the Patriarchs last December. Masudi was shot and killed by police during the attack, while Kaufman, 41, succumbed to his wounds three weeks later.
On Dec. 7, the day of the lethal stabbing, Reuters had reported:
A Palestinian man stabbed and critically wounded an Israeli in the West Bank city of Hebron on Monday and was then shot dead by security forces, Israeli police said. . .

In the Hebron attack, paramilitary border police fatally shot the assailant after he stabbed an Israeli man several times in the upper body, a police spokeswoman said.

The wounded man was taken to hospital in Jerusalem in critical condition, medical officials said.

AP captions of the demolished home correctly refer to Maswadeh’s attack, stating: “Maswada fatally stabbed an Israeli civilian in the West Bank city of Hebron late last year.”
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CAMERA has contacted Reuters editors to request a correction. Stay tuned for an update.
 
April 4 update: Reuters has corrected its captions and refiled them with the following note and caption:
REFILE – CLARIFYING REFERENCE TO THE STABBING ATTACK A relative of Palestinian Ihab Maswadeh (seen in the poster), who fatally stabbed an Israeli man last December, inspects the damage after the Israeli forces partially demolished Maswadeh’s house in the West Bank city of Hebron March 31, 2016.

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