In response to communication from CAMERA, Times of Israel and BBC Arabic last week improved their respective articles about a Palestinian teen killed by Israeli military fire, adding that he was a Hamas militant after initially neglecting to include that highly relevant information. On its own website, Hamas claimed Jibril Muhammad Kamal al-Ladaa as the organization’s “martyred Jihad warrior.”
In both English and Arabic, the Times of Israel’s May 1 article, “Palestinian teen killed, six others hurt during IDF raid in Jericho,” originally neglected to mention that al-Ladaa was a Hamas member. The article had initially reported:
A Palestinian teenager was killed during an Israeli military raid in the Aqabat Jabr refugee camp near the West Bank city of Jericho on Monday morning, Palestinian health officials said.
Editors commendably added the text both in English and Arabic. The amended text now states:
A Palestinian teenager affiliated with the Hamas terror group was killed during an Israeli military raid in the Aqabat Jabr refugee camp near the West Bank city of Jericho on Monday morning, Palestinian health officials said.
In addition, the updated article, in both English and Arabic, also adds: “The Gaza Strip-based Hamas later claimed al-Lada’a as a ‘fighter’ and a member of the terror group.”
BBC Arabic, for its part, also added that al-Ladaa was “associated with the Hamas movement” after CAMERA Arabic pointed out that its coverage initially neglected to report his membership in the terror organization.
Unlike Times of Israel and BBC Arabic, wire services Reuters (in English and Arabic) and Agence France Presse (in English and Arabic), along Israeli media outlet Haaretz (in English and Hebrew) failed to act on CAMERA’s request to amend its coverage to include Ladaa’s Hamas affiliation.