While the Biden Administration's decision to consider settlements illegal under international law in no way restores a decades-long U.S. policy, media reports that it does just that do revive long-standing miscoverage of U.S. policy.
CBS's Deborah Patta falsely reported that Netanyahu "stubbornly refuses to listen" to his American interlocutors. But the Israeli Prime Minister's order to devise an evacuation plan for Rafah's civilians means that he listened very attentively. The U.S. exhorted Israel to prepare a solid plan to protect Rafah's civilians before carrying out a military operation. The Biden administration did not tell Israel not to attack Rafah.
NBC falsely reports that Secretary of State Blinken encouraged Israel "not to target civilians." While the US administration urges Israel to minimize civilian casualties and to allow humanitarian assistance, it knows full well that Israel, unlike Hamas, does not target civlians. And, no, the Palestinian Authority does not control the Rafah crossing. Hamas does.
France24 Arabic pundit Ramatène Aouaitia erroneously reports that Jewish members of the House of Representatives were among those who said they would boycott Israeli President Isaac Herzog's speech.
CAMERA prompts correction of a Reuters video which erroneously had placed the former U.S. consulate in eastern Jerusalem. Palestinian Affairs Unit had been located on Agron Street, in the western part of the city.
Writing in Foreign Affairs magazine, three esteemed former U.S. diplomats argue that Israel is pulling the U.S. toward a conflict with Iran. But history, the statements of Iranian leaders and a recent war between Israel and an Iranian proxy all prove that it is Tehran which already considers itself to be at war with both the U.S. and Israel.
An April 17, 2021 Washington Post report, entitled “Biden’s relationship with Israel shaping up to be less cozy than his predecessors,” is littered with misleading omissions, questionable claims and inaccuracies. The dispatch misinforms readers and actively editorializes.
Writing in Foreign Policy magazine, British historian Avi Shlaim faults both Israel and the United States for the failure to achieve a Palestinian state. Shlaim asserts that U.S. must pressure the Jewish state in order to achieve peace. But, as CAMERA tells JNS readers, the historian's reading of history is both selective and disingenuous.