AFP Falsely Reports That Rena Shnerb’s Suspected Killers Not Charged

By: Tamar Sternthal March 9, 2020

March 12 UPDATE:

AFP Corrects

In response to communication from CAMERA, AFP corrected its piece so that it now accurately reports that four Palestinians "were later charged with planting the roadside bomb as members of the banned Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine. See below for a detailed update.

Rina Shnerb (Photo courtesy of the Shnerb family)

A March 5 Agence France Presse article on the demolition of the homes of two Palestinians indicted for the fatal bombing attack which killed 16-year-old Israeli Rina Shnerb falsely reported that the suspects had not been charged ("Israel razes homes of Palestinian bombing suspects"). The AFP reported that following the Aug. 23, 2019 attack, near the Jewish community of Dolev in the West Bank:

Four men were subsequently rounded up, accused of planting the roadside bomb as members of the banned Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine. They have not been charged.
In fact, a total of five men, including the four discussed in the article, were all indicted in mid-December for the terror attack which killed Shnerb and wounded her father and brother.
 
 As The Jerusalem Post reported Jan. 8 ("Trial of alleged murderers of Rina Shnerb opens"): "The five – Samer Arbid, Walid Hanatsheh, Abed el-Razeq Faraj, Yzaen Majames and Kasem Shibli – were indicted in mid-December."
 
Attorney Maurice Hirsh, who is representing the Shnerb family, provided CAMERA with all five indictments.

For additional information, see also "NGO Officials Alleged Terror Activities, Arrests, and Affiliations," by NGO Monitor

March 12 Update: AFP Corrects

In response to communication from CAMERA, on March 11 AFP editors commendably republished the story, and replaced the false claim that the four suspects had not been charged with the following correction:

Four men were subsequently rounded up and were later charged with planting the roadside bomb as members of the banned Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine.

As of this writing, the France24 still carries the original, erroneous AFP copy. CAMERA has contacted editors to request correction.

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