Will Donald Miller Correct?
Donald Miller
Four months ago, Donald Miller, a Christian writer who has a large following among Evangelical (and post-Evangelical) young adults in the United States, wrote a blog entry about the Arab-Israeli conflict titled “The Painful Truth About the Situation in Israel.”
The entry, which was posted on his blog which promotes his most recent book “Storyline,” began with a reference to the death of Jihad Misharawi’s 11-month-old son Omar and declares that he was killed by an Israeli airstrike in the Gaza Strip. To add drama to the entry, Miller posted a photo of Jihad Misharawi holding the body of his dead child and grimacing in agony.
Well, as it turns out, there’s good reason to believe that Omar Misharawi was not killed by an Israeli airstrike, but by a Hamas rocket that fell short during the fighting.
CAMERA researcher Tamar Sternthal provides the detail in a CAMERA analysis published on March 13, 2013:
On March 6, the United Nations’ Human Rights Council issued a report which found that Omar Masharawi and two relatives were likely killed by a Palestinian rocket that fell short. Many media outlets, including the Associated Press, New York Times, and theWashington Post (online) followed up with coverage of the U.N. report, noting its finding that Masharawi was likely killed by an errant Palestinian rocket. On March 11, AP commendably corrected […] its original caption of Jihad and Omar Masharawi, in which the infant’s death was blamed on Israel.
There was doubt about the circumstances surrounding Omar Misharawi’s death soon after it happened. Four months later, it appears that the boy was not killed by Israel, but by Hamas.
Will Miller correct or clarify his entry, or will he ignore the issue?
There are other troubling aspects about Miller’s post. For example, he describes Hamas’ actions as “troubling and unhelpful” but makes no attempt to describe the ideology Hamas uses to justify its violence against Israel.
He also blames the Second Intifada on Ariel Sharon’s visit to the Temple Mount, when there is substantial testimony from Palestinians themselves that state the uprising was planned long before its started.
Is Miller going to address the facts of the Arab-Israeli conflict? Or is he going to stick to his story line?
More from SNAPSHOTS
AP Avoids Calling Farrakhan Comments “Anti-Semitic”
November 9, 2018
For some mysterious reason, the Associated Press felt Louis Farrakhan's mutterings on international relations deserve close attention. "Louis Farrakhan, in Iran, warns Trump a Mideast war possible," a Associated Press headline announced, as if the [...]
Israeli Peace Offers, Palestinian Rock Throwing Are M.I.A in Post Report
July 26, 2018
A June 28, 2018 Washington Post report, “Prince William visit Jerusalem’s holy sites, concluding historic visit,” omitted key context and details about the Duke of Cambridge’s trip to Israel and areas controlled by the Palestinian [...]
Media Story About Ultra-Orthodox Responsibility for Lengthy El Al Delay Disputed
July 11, 2018
Israeli journalist Sivan Rahav Meir reports in The Times of Israel today ("That Ultra-Orthodox flight delay? It didn't happen") that media claims, based on a Facebook post by Israeli rapper Chen Rotem, that a group [...]
One Haaretz Page-One Sentence, Lots of Errors
July 11, 2018
One sentence in a page-one article of Haaretz's's English print edition yesterday packed in multiple errors. Headlined "Netanyahu: Israel to close commercial Gaza crossing over airborne firebombs," the article erred: Palestinians began flying the devices [...]
Media Largely Ignore Alleged Hamas Payment to Dead Baby’s Family
June 25, 2018
A New York Times caption which definitively claims that Layla Ghandour "fell ill after inhaling tear gas," despite the fact that the accompanying article itself acknowledges that the story involving tear gas was disputed Western [...]
PCUSA Stands By While Palestinian Activist Harassed by Extremist
June 20, 2018
Palestinian human rights activist Bassem Eid walks away from an aggressive and hostile “intersectionality” activist Bassem Masri outside the Presbyterian Church (USA)’s General Assembly taking place in St. Louis. (Screenshot from Twitter.) Palestinian human rights [...]
AFP Whitewashes Gaza’s Serial Arsonists as ‘Activists’
June 19, 2018
June 20 Update: Multiple Media Outlets Amend Captions Calling Gaza Arsonists 'Activists' Numerous Agence France-Presse photo captions in the last couple of days misidentify Gazans responsible for airborne arson attacks which destroyed 28,000 dunums of [...]
Newsweek Headline Fail on Israeli Attacks in Syria
June 18, 2018
A grossly misleading Newsweek headline ("Israel Bombs Syria to Stop Refugees Fleeing to Europe, Netanyahu Says," June 14) falsely suggests that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that Israel is bombing Syria in order to [...]