At LA Times, Slain Hamas Gunman Is ‘a Palestinian Man’
The Los Angeles Times published the following brief today in its print edition:
A deadly Israeli aristrike in the Gaza Strip and rocket and mortar fire from the Palestinian territory marred a fragile truce that took hold late last week.
Gaza health official Ashraf Kidra said one strike killed a Palestinian man and wounded another. . . .
The wire story was apparently based on an AP story that was published early yesterday, which reported the following about the slain Palestinian man:
The identity of the dead Palestinian wasn’t immediately known. The Israeli military said it targeted a militant squad that had fired a rocket at Israel.
Yet, shortly later, and long before the LA Times went to press last night, the casualty’s identity was known. Many online news outlets reported throughout the day that the killed Palestinian man was a Hamas fighter. As Reuters reported in a story posted yesterday on the Palestinian Ma’an News Agency Web site (“Israel kills Hamas fighter in south Gaza”):
An Israeli air strike before dawn on Sunday struck two gunmen from Hamas’ military wing as they rode a motorcycle near the central town of Khan Younis, local officials said.
The Al-Qassam Brigades said Suleiman Qarra, 27, from Bani Suheila, was killed, and another fighter wounded.
An Israeli military spokesman said the air force had targeted a squad preparing to fire a rocket into Israel.
And there were pictures of the Hamas fighter’s funeral, also available yesterday, long before Times editors went to press:
Palestinian mourners carry the body of Hamas militant Suleiman al-Qarra during his funeral in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, Sunday, Oct. 28, 2012. A deadly Israeli airstrike and rocket and mortar fire from Gaza on Sunday marred a fragile truce that took hold late last week. (AP Photo/Hatem Moussa)
Given that the Times had all the information it needed to identify yesterday’s casualty as a Hamas fighter, why did it call him just “a Palestinian man,” as if he may have been an innocent bystander?
More from SNAPSHOTS
Mahmoud Abbas’ Diatribe Threatening Israel Included Bogus Canaanite Claim
September 10, 2019
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas’ recent anti-Israel diatribe that aired on PA TV was monitored and translated by Palestinian Media Watch (PMW). Excerpt: "I say to [Israel]: Every stone you have built on our land [...]
CNN Calls House’s Unifying Anti-BDS Vote ‘Divisive’
July 24, 2019
Yesterday, in an overwhelming vote of bipartisan support, the House of Representatives voted 398 to 17 to adopt a resolution opposing the anti-Israel BDS (boycott, divest, sanctions) campaign. Yet, CNN's headline casts the unifying vote [...]
NY Times Cites Poll, Hides Palestinian Support for Violence
July 9, 2019
The New York Times has struggled to accurately describe polls this year. In January, editor Jonathan Weisman misrepresented Pew polling data to describe a nonexistent surge in Israeli support for the United States under President [...]
CNN’s Zakaria Indulges Palestinian Propagandist Hanan Ashrawi
June 9, 2019
Fareed Zakaria’s weekly Cable News Network (CNN) program (grandiosely named “Global Public Square”) June 9 broadcast included a discussion of the current U.S. Middle East peace plan with guests Hanan Ashrawi (Palestinian Authority official) and [...]
In Robert Bernstein Obit, AFP Inappropriately References His Judaism
May 29, 2019
Robert Bernstein (Courtesy the New Press) In its obituary yesterday for American publisher Robert Bernstein, Agence France Presse inserted an inappropriate reference to the Human Rights Watch founder who later turned on the organization due [...]