At LA Times, Slain Top Islamic Jihad Fighter is a “Journalist”

The Sharouk building, where Islamic Jihad military leader Ramez Harb was killed (EPA)

Nov. 25 Update: LA Times Correction: ‘Palestinian Journalist’ Was Islamic Jihad

The Los Angeles Times does it again. Last month it transformed a slain Hamas gunman into a “Palestinian man.” Today Jerusalem bureau chief Edmund Sanders transforms a slain top Islamic Jihad commander into “a Palestinian journalist.” He writes:

On Monday, Israel attacked the Sharouk communications building in Gaza City where it said four senior members of the Islamic Jihad militant group were meeting.

Among the dead was Ramez Harb, a Palestinian journalist. Israel said he was a legitimate target because he served in the information department of Islamic Jihad.

But it’s not just that Israel “said” that Harb served in Islamic Jihad’s “information department.” Israel said he was a senior figure in Islamic Jihad’s military wing. And you know what? Islamic Jihad said the same thing. As was widely reported elsewhere, Islamic Jihad itself texted reporters that its top military leader, Harb, was killed. As AP reported:

Palestinian militant group Islamic Jihad says an Israeli strike on a Gaza media center has killed one of its top militant leaders.

Monday’s strike in downtown Gaza City was part of a widening 6-day-old offensive meant to quell Hamas rocket fire.

It’s the second strike on the building in two days. The Hamas TV station, Al Aqsa, is located on the top floor.

Islamic Jihad has sent a text message to reporters saying that Ramez Harb was killed in the strike Monday. Harb is a leading figure in their militant wing, the Al Quds Brigades.

Furthermore, Sanders withholds from readers the fact that the Sharouk communications building houses the Hamas TV station Al Aqsa, as well as the Al Quds station, which the United States designated as a terror entity. (NPR’s Leila Fadel was up to the same trick this week.)

But Sanders can’t even bring himself to say that the U.S. has designated Hamas as a terror organization. He writes today: “Israel views Hamas as a terrorist organization. . . ” So does the United States. So does the European Union.

But if you don’t want to make Hamas or Islamic Jihad look bad, it’s best to pass off the bad news about the two terror groups as Israeli claims. So Israel “said” Harb is an Islamic Jihad communications specialist. (Really, Islamic Jihad itself identified him as one of their top military leader.) Israel “says” Hamas is a terror organization. (And so it is, as the U.S. and E.U. have also recognized.)