AFP Misleads on ‘Newly-Established’ Eviatar

Multiple July 9 and July 6 Agence France Presse photographs of Palestinians violently demonstrating carry captions that misleadingly refer to the protesters’ proximity to “the newly-established Israeli wildcat settler outpost of Eviatar,” without giving any indication that the outpost was evacuated a week ago, and that not a single Israeli resident remains.
Examples of the problematic captions about Eviatar (more frequently spelled Evyatar) follow:

A masked Palestinian protester prepares to hurl back a tear gas canister towards Israeli forces during clashes in the town of Beita, near the occupied West Bank city of Nablus, opposite the newly-established Israeli wildcat settler outpost of Eviatar, on July 9, 2021. JAAFAR ASHTIYEH / AFP

 

A masked Palestinian protester hurls stones towards Israeli forces during clashes in the town of Beita, near the occupied West Bank city of Nablus, opposite the newly-established Israeli wildcat settler outpost of Eviatar, on July 9, 2021. JAAFAR ASHTIYEH / AFP

Palestinian Red Crescent medics evacuate an injured protestor during clashes with Israeli forces in the town of Beita, near the occupied West Bank city of Nablus, opposite the newly-established Israeli wildcat settler outpost of Eviatar, on July 9, 2021. JAAFAR ASHTIYEH / AFP

 
As AFP itself reported the day of the evacuation (“Israeli settlers leave West Bank outpost after govt deal,” July 2):

Israeli settlers left an illegal outpost in the occupied West Bank Friday in adherence to an agreement struck with nationalist premier Naftali Bennett’s new government, AFP reporters and a settler leader said.

With Israeli military and police on site, the last cars streamed out of Eviatar — near the Palestinian city of Nablus — in compliance with the 4:00 pm (1300 GMT) deadline to leave the outpost.

Why don’t the captions give any indication that the outpost its emptied of residents, selectively and misleadingly reporting only that it’s “newly-established”? CAMERA has contacted AFP to request modification of the captions to make clear that the outpost has been evacuated.

July 14 Update: AFP Amends, But Doesn't Improve, Newer Captions

Following publication of this post, AFP captions published July 13 concerning Palestinian demonstrations in the area of the evacuated Eviatar outpost no longer carried reference to the "newly-established." Yesterday's captions refer to "the Israeli settlers' outpost of Eviatar." They still include no indication that the outpost is evacuated, and thus continue to mislead news consumer.

 

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