AFP's basic premises -- that young eager swimmers in Gaza have nowhere to practice besides the polluted coast and that the athletes are so desperate that they swim in waters that hardly anyone else would dare enter -- just don't hold water.
An AFP article today falsely depicts the destruction of a Beersheba home, which this morning suffered a direct hit from a rocket fired from Gaza, as limited to "damage to the garden of the family home." CAMERA prompts correction.
CNN and Associated Press headlines 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 closing in on Israeli soldiers in Israeli territory.
In an article about dramatic moments at the United Nations, the Associated Press covers up the most dramatic element of Yasir Arafat's 1974 address: that he brought a gun to the UN and delivered the address while sporting the holster. Six years ago, in contrast, AP delivered a straight account of the incident.
When the Israeli army disputed Hamas' account which blamed Israel for the death of 12-year-old Shady Abdel-Aal, AP rose to the journalistic challenge with accurate coverage. Reuters responsibly corrected when presented with information contradicting Hamas. AFP, in contrast, has yet to correct even as Hamas itself has backtracked.
Doctors Without Borders gunman Hani Majdalawi "didn't even know how to use a weapon," said his brother Osama in The Los Angeles Times, casting doubt on the Israeli charge. A post earlier on Osama's Facebook page, however, boasted that Hani "bought the weapon with his own money." Osama cites hackers as at fault for the discrepancy.
The news pages of American media outlets have completely ignored the British firestorm following the revelation of Jeremy Corbyn's 2013 remark, widely regarded as anti-Semitic, that "British Zionists" lack "English irony" and "don't want to study history."
For Robin Young and Derek Thompson, SodaStream's former employment of Palestinians and its subsequent "punishment" of employees with layoffs counterbalance the company's "positive moral valance." There are no "moral questions," however, about the BDS activists who claim credit for depriving Palestinians of their livelihoods.
AP photo captions mislead with critical omissions: Israel identified a reported cultural center bombed in Gaza as a Hamas facility. Also, Prime Minister Netanyahu criticized protesters not only for waving Palestinian flags but also for chanting, "With blood and fire, we will redeem Palestine."
By repeatedly referring to "alleged" rockets fired from Gaza and further qualifying these attacks with scare quotes, The Daily Mail's Sara Malm signals that she can't be sure that Hamas really did launch 180 rockets and mortars towards Israel in 24 hours.
