Despite its victory in Palestinian parliamentary elections, Hamas remains the same old organization committed to Israel's destruction. News consumers might be forgiven, however, for thinking the group has reformed, because much of the American media appears eager to minimize threats to Israel and to blame the Jewish state for all lack of progress in Israeli-Palestinian diplomacy.
After noticing a number of Associated Press (AP) news stories that referred exclusively to the international Road Map peace plan's demands on Israel, while overlooking the Road Map's requirements of the Palestinians—even in news reports about Palestinians flouting the plan—CAMERA undertook to determine whether these one-sided citations of the Road Map were anomalies, or part of a larger pattern.
The influential wire service is more responsive in correcting some factual errors, but continues to downplay attacks against Israelis. The Associated Press might be the single most influential news organization
in the United States if numbers are the measure. The agency serves 1,700 newspapers and 5,000 radio and television stations nationally. Worldwide, over one billion people a day obtain news from the AP, according to the organization.
Wire stories yesterday from the Agence France Presse and Associated Press blame Israel for killing a 20-year-old Palestinian in an incident which is now under dispute. The Israeli army says that their Palestinian counterparts informed them the young man was a victim of an internal Palestinian feud.
A Muslim mob converged on the Palestinian Christian town of Taibeh, burning and looting 13 homes owned by relatives of a man suspected of having an affair and impregnating a 30-year-old Muslim woman who worked for him. Prior to the mob attack, in yet another suspected "honor killing," the pregnant woman, Hiyam Ajaj, was found dead from poison.
On Thursday, Aug. 25, 2005, an Israeli hit-squad opened fire on a group of Palestinians without provocation, killing five in a gangland-style attack. Or, at least, that is what an extremely misleading Associated Press news story would have you believe.
The AP contorts the English language to avoid correcting an incorrect statement that Palestinians with West Bank identity cards are banned from entering Jerusalem at all. In fact, such Palestinians regularly enter Jerusalem.
There is a striking double standard in terminology being used by many news organizations, such as the New York Times and Associated Press, regarding the terror attacks in London and the terror attack in Netanya, Israel. "Terror" and "terrorists" are liberally used in articles about the London bombing, while the articles about the Netanya terror attack studiously avoid the use of terror terminology.
In the aftermath of the London terror attacks, the media's scapegoat-Israel tendency has again reared its head. The Associated Press issued multiple stories reporting that British Prime Minister Tony Blair gave an interview on BBC Radio yesterday in which he linked the attacks against his country to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. In fact, Blair never mentioned Israel or the Palestinians.
