UPDATED: J Street Calls Palestinian Rocket Squads “Civilian”
Update: After being widely criticized for its anti-Israel “error,” J Street has removed the fallacious reference to “civilians.”
J Street President Jeremy Ben-Ami released a statement today describing all or most of the Palestinians killed during the fighting between Palestinian militants in Gaza and Israel as “civilians.” In fact, nearly all were fighters, and many were killed while trying to fire rockets indiscriminately into Israeli cities.
The J Street statement reads:
J Street is deeply concerned about the most recent spate of violence between the Israel Defense Forces and militants in Gaza, which, in three days, has already resulted in over one hundred rockets fired on Israeli cities and towns and airstrikes on Gaza that have killed over a dozen Palestinian civilians.
But Voice of America reports that “Sixteen Palestinian militants and two civilians have been killed since violence began on Friday, while Israel has been battered by more than 120 rockets.”
Yesterday, AP reported that all of the 15 Palestinian casualties at the time were militants:
Israel pounded Gaza for the second day in a row Saturday, trading airstrikes and rocket fire with Palestinian militants and killing 15 of them as the deadliest Gaza violence in over a year showed no signs of abating.
Also yesterday, the New York Times reported that “Up to 15 Palestinian fighters have died in the airstrikes. At least 10 of the dead belonged to the armed wing of Islamic Jihad, the group said in a statement.”
U.S. State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland termed the Gazan attackers “terrorists.” As reported in the Jerusalem Post , among other places, her characterization of the violence was clear:
“We condemn in the strongest terms the rocket fire from Gaza by terrorists into southern Israel in recent days, which has dramatically and dangerously escalated in the past day” Nuland said via a written statement, adding that the US calls “on those responsible to take immediate action to stop these cowardly acts.”
Does J Street have better sources than the State Department? Or is the group intentionally misleading the public?
(You can see photos of some of the “civilians” here.)
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