To understand the sensitivity of the debate over Israel's decision to release convicted Palestinian terrorists, one must know who these prisoners are and what crimes they committed. CAMERA provides a list.
Ha'aretz's Yitzhak Laor takes a page out of Gideon Levy's book and stubbornly denies the release of thousands of Palestinian prisoners in recent decades. Department of Corrections calls.
All too often, mainstream media outlets whitewash the violent acts of Palestinian prisoners. Calling those incarcerated since before 1994 "political prisoners" is an egregious cover up of their brutal crimes, detailed here for the first time.
Media interest in Palestinian hunger-striker Samer Issawi intensifies, albeit selectively. Ha'aretz publishes an enormous photograph of Issawi, but doesn't include even half a sentence about his indictment for attempted murder and other violence.
According to a report by Ethan Bronner of the New York Times, Israel imprisoned a Palestinian child merely for "throwing stones and hanging Palestinian flags from telephone poles." In fact the teenager in question was convicted for attempted murder and possession of explosives.
The Washington Post prides itself on reporting news in depth, not merely transcribing what sources say. But when it followed up Palestinian terrorists exchanged for Sgt. Gilad Shalit, The Post's depth was shallow.
Compare The Washington Post's coverage of the Gilad Shalit/Hamas prisoner exchange to that of The Los Angeles Times. The Post stenographically copies Palestinian language -- "resistance," "military wing" and avoids telling details of Palestinian terrorism. The Los Angeles Times does better.
The New York Times quotes a Hamas spokesperson claiming Gilad Shalit, unlike Palestinian prisoners in Israel, was treated well. Unmentioned is that the conditions of Shalit's detention voilated international law.
As the facts dramatically underscore that Israel's release of some 10,000 prisoners in the last two decades has yielded no "dizzying political change," Gideon Levy's claim in Ha'aretz that a prisoner release could yield "a breath of fresh air" is nothing more than stale hot air.
The BBC is not only overtly partisan in its Web site article choices, it misleads readers with a false, propagandistic version of the situation. A recent article entitled "Palestinians back prisoner release call" fails to inform readers that the protagonist interviewed was himself imprisoned for attempting to kidnap an Israeli soldier and that his wife had been imprisoned for planning a suicide bombing.