Headlines by both CNN and the Associated Press in recent days falsely placed a number of Palestinians who infiltrated into Israel after they blew a hole through the Gaza fence as killed “in Gaza” when they were on the Israeli side of the fence, approaching Israeli soldiers. Following communication from CAMERA’s Israel office, CNN today corrected its erroneous headline.
CNN’s erroneous headline Friday was: “Seven Palestinians shot and killed by Israeli forces in Gaza during violent weekly protests.”
The accompanying article referred to the infiltration, but did not make clear that several of the Palestinians were killed on the Israeli side of the border. Oren Liebermann and Ian Lee wrote:
On Friday, a bomb was detonated along the fence and a number of Gazans entered into Israel, according to IDF spokesman Lt. Col. Jonathan Conricus, who tweeted “some 20 terrorists crossed through the hole created by the IED, about 5 assaulted the IDF position and were repelled.”
AP’s headline yesterday erred: “Palestinians bury woman killed in West Bank, 7 slain in Gaza.” Similarly, the first paragraph of the story misleads: “Palestinians on Saturday buried eight of their dead. . . seven who were shot by Israeli troops during protests in Gaza the previous day.”
According to the IDF, a number of those killed Friday were killed in Israeli territory (ie not Gaza), after the blew a hole into the fence and crossed through.
As
The New York Times reported:
“Four of them were shot dead after they crossed into Israeli territory and approached an army snipers’ post, the Israeli military and a witness said.”
A
Reuters article suggests that five were killed on the Israeli side of the border, according to the IDF.
Even AP’s own story itself suggests that at least four were killed in Israel. Paragraph 13 states: “Of the seven killed on Friday, four died in one location, where the Israeli military said it opened fire on a crowd of Palestinians who had breached the fence and approached an army post.”
In response to communication from CAMERA, CNN amended its headline so that it no longer identifies all of the casualties as having occurred in the Gaza Strip. The new headline states: “Seven Palestinians shot and killed by Israeli forces during violent Gaza protests.”
In addition, editors appended a correction to the bottom of the article noting:
Correction: A headline on a previous version of this story incorrectly stated where some of the deaths occurred. This has been corrected.
At no point, though, does the CNN story make clear that several were killed inside Israel, as they were closing in on Israeli soldiers.
The Associated Press has not corrected its inaccurate headline.
Oct. 21 Update: CNN Fails to Correct Arabic Headline
CAMERA Arabic has flagged a CNN headline in Arabic which also erroneously placed all of the casualties as having taken place “in Gaza.” The Oct. 12
headline states (CAMERA Arabic’s translation): “6 Palestinians dead in Gaza… And the IDF announces they have thwarted an attack on a military site.” (The story apparently was published before information on the seventh emerged.)
This article was updated on Oct. 21 to include reference to AP’s 13th paragraph.
CNN’s erroneous headline Friday was: “Seven Palestinians shot and killed by Israeli forces in Gaza during violent weekly protests.”
In addition, editors appended a correction to the bottom of the article noting: