Telegraph and Daily Mail Retreat From Tamimis’ Latest “Pallywood”

By: Adam Levick August 30, 2015
This article is cross-posted on CAMERA’s UK Media Watch
 
As noted by CAMERA’s Tamar Sternthal, the Palestinian town of Nabi Saleh, near the Jewish community of Neveh Tzuf, is “where photographers gather every Friday to document repetitious scenes of Palestinian residents and international activists clashing with Israeli soldiers” and where activists often place their children in danger to score propaganda points.

Nabi Saleh’s most popular Pallywood child star, known as “Shirley Temper” (aka Ahed. or A’hd, Tamimi), revived her recurring role as the symbol of Palestinian “resistance” on Friday, when she was seen attacking an Israeli soldier who had detained a rock-thrower during protests.

Ahed is the daughter of Narimen and Bassem Tamimi, prominent activists in the Popular Resistance who evidently determine the girl’s protest “strategy.” As Sternthal noted, “rather than keeping their children at a safe distance from the often-violent clashes, the parents encourage their children to play highly visible roles in the confrontation with the army.”

Here’s a photo of the young Tamimi from 2012, seen with her fist raised immediately to the left of the Israeli soldier.
 
 
In the latest incident, this past Friday, in photos from multiple wire services, Ahed Tamimi is one of several Palestinian civilians who attack a soldier in an attempt to prevent the arrest of a 13-year-old rock thrower.
 
 
Here’s a clip from the Pallywood production. (The term “Pallywood” refers to the staging of scenes by Palestinian journalists in order to present the Palestinians as hapless victims of Israeli aggression.)
 
 
 
 
What arguably stands out most about this video is the restraint shown by the Israeli soldier. He was shoved, hit and bitten and yet maintained his discipline throughout the incident until a commander called off the detention, citing the escalating violence.
 
Additionally, others may have missed the telling fact that the boy detained for throwing rocks Muhammad is Ahed’s brother. (See here for a family photo, by Anadolu Agency. The caption reads:
Palestinian Muhammad Tamimi, 12, who was attacked by an Israeli soldier the day before, is seen with his mother Nariman, his father Bassem, his brother Salam and his sister Ahed at his family home in Nabi Saleh village, near the West Bank city of Ramallah on August 29, 2015. An Israeli soldier tried to detain 12 year-old Palestinian boy with a broken arm on Friday during the weekly protests against Israel’s land expropriation and separation wall in the occupied West Bank village of Nabi Saleh. Issam Rimawi / Anadolu Agency)

TheDaily Mail initially ran with the desired Pallywood tale of brutal Israeli soldiers attacking innocent Palestinian children, but later changed the headline and tone of the piece, presumably after a myriad of complaints. Remarkably, the DM’s revised headline explained that the girl had “been revealed” as a Pallywood star. 

Here’s the original headline:
 
 
Here’s the updated version:
 
 

But, even more interesting is what occurred at The Telegraph, which initially ran with the headline “Palestinian women wrestle Israeli soldier off injured small boy,” but later pulled the entire story from their website.

Here’s a screenshot of the Google search result for the Telegraph story by David Millward:
 
 
However, attempts to open the link yield the following result:
 
 
Though we weren’t able to find a cached version of the story, we did locate the text from Lexis-Nexis. As you can see, it completely bought into the Pallywood tale.
 

An Israeli solider [sic] who held pinned a Palestinian boy whose arm was in a sling to the floor at gunpoint was set upon by a young girl and two women.

The sight of the terrified child being held at gunpoint was too much those watching to bear.

A young girl sank her teeth into the balaclava-clad soldier’s right hand, forcing him to release his machine gun.

At one point the soldier shoves his hand into the girl’s face.

Two women, meanwhile, grabbed the soldier by the neck and soldier, succeeding in hauling him off the frightened young boy.

The soldier eventually fled and the boy was cradled in the girls arms.

What triggered the clash is unclear, though tension has been increasing between Palestinians and the Israelis in the area and it is not unknown for young children to throw stones at the occupying forces.

The Palestinians have been protesting at the confiscation of their land to enable the expansion of the Jewish Hallamish settlement at Nabi Saleh on the West Bank.

Thus far, neither The Guardian nor Times of London have covered the incident. Though Channel 4 News, The Independent and the tabloid Daily Mirror have reported it, and largely followed the “Pallywood” script (the latter going with the headline “West Bank Freedom Biter,”) it’s nonetheless quite significant in the context of the British media’s institutional pro-Palestinian bias that both The Daily Mail and Telegraph retreated after initially parroting the desired Palestinian narrative.
 
See also:
 
Cheap shots: Palestinians put kids in the line of fire
 
Updated: B’Tselem Photographer Stages Scene
 
Cheap Shots: Tamimi Girl Ups the Ante
 
New York Times Magazine Cheerleads For Terror

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