AP Rebrands Islamic Jihad Rocket Attacks as Israeli Strikes

Aug. 17 UPDATE:

Associated Press Corrects

After additional follow up from CAMERA's Israel office, on Aug. 15 the Associated Press corrected the erroneous "Week in Pictures" text so that it now more accurately refers to "Palestinian militant rockets being launched from Gaza in response to Israeli airstrikes." See below for a detailed update.

"From Israeli strikes on Gaza, to flowing volcanoes in Iceland, to flood damage in Kentucky, this photo gallery highlights some of the most compelling images from around the world made or published by The Associated Press in the past week," reads the text accompanying the Associated Press' July 30-Aug. 5 Week in Pictures feature highlighting some of the most dramatic images from the week.

The photos are indeed compelling, even as the first —supposedly on "Israeli strikes on Gaza" — does not tell the story that the AP writer set out to tell.

In fact, the relevant photograph of Gaza shows outgoing Palestinian rockets targeting Israel — not Israeli airstrikes. Indeed, AP's caption for that photograph does correctly identify the scene: 
 
Rockets fired by Palestinian militants toward Israel, in Gaza City, Friday, Aug. 5, 2022. Palestinian officials say Israeli airstrikes on Gaza have killed at least 10 people, including a senior militant, and wounded 55 others. (AP Photo/Fatima Shbair)

Like flowing volcano, the photo agency's Week in Pictures misinformation has spread across the Internet, appearing on countless news sites including The Independent and San Francisco Chronicle. Though CAMERA contacted AP last week about the photo gallery, curated by AP photo editor James Okungu in New York, the news agency has yet to set the record straight.

Aug. 17 Update: Associated Press Corrects

Following the Aug. 15 publication of this post, and additional follow up with AP from CAMERA's Israel office, the news agency commendably corrected the text later that day. The amended text now more accurately reports:

From Palestinian militant rockets being launched from Gaza in response to Israeli airstrikes, to flowing volcanoes in Iceland, to flood damage in Kentucky, this photo gallery highlights some of the most compelling images from around the world made or published by The Associated Press in the past week.

In addition, AP deleted a tweet which repeated the misinformation. The San Francisco Chronicle's website also updated to include the corrected AP copy. In contrast, the original erroneous copy, however, continues to appear at the Independent. CAMERA UK is reaching out to prompt correction there as well.

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