With the return of intensive Palestinian violence targeting civilians on Israel’s street, language in international media reports recasting perpetrators as victims also threaten to make a comeback after having largely retreated.
During the wave of Palestinian terror attacks in 2015, CAMERA documented scores of headlines and other news items which “relied on the passive voice, euphemism, and imprecision — reportorial smoke and mirrors — to obscure Palestinian terror attacks and even recast terrorists as victims of arbitrary Israeli violence.”

From left: Israelis Tomer Morad, Eytam Magini and Barak Lufen, murdered by a Palestinian terrorist in a Tel Aviv bar April 7, 2022. (Courtesy, via Times of Israel)
Leading news agency Reuters was not at all exempt from the phenomenon of grossly distorting language which swept up international media outlets several years ago. Notable Reuters contortions from that earlier wave of violence include references to Palestinians “who died at the scene of attacks on Israelis,” captions whitewashing Palestinian assailants as Palestinians who “confront” Israelis, a graphic referring to Palestinians terrorists killed in “street violence,” and an abominable headline: “Israelis kill knife man,” referring to a Palestinian attacker who tried to attack an Israeli security official.
Misinformation and distortions in headlines can be particularly harmful given that casual news readers may catch only the prominent, misleading headline, missing clarifying data appearing further down in the news item.
It is against this backdrop that Reuters’ egregiously misleading headline April 8 was particularly alarming. Reporting on Thursday night’s fatal attack in which a Palestinian terrorist opened fire in a crowded Tel Aviv bar, murdering three, Reuters’ headline repeated the unfortunate history of inverting perpetrator and victim, stating: “Israeli forces shoot dead Palestinian after Tel Aviv bar attack.”
No, @Reuters. Don’t do that again. The Palestinian was *terrorist* who shot dead 2 civilians, wounded 12 in #telavivattack bar. He was the perpetrator. Not the victim. How about: “Palestinian kills 2 in Tel Aviv bar, shot dead.” @CAMERAorg https://t.co/bQPCHMi1FI
— Tamar Sternthal (@TamarSternthal) April 8, 2022
