In USA Today Headline, Palestinian Stabbers Are the Victims
Following four Palestinian stabbing attacks against Israelis yesterday, a USA Today headline is the latest in a series of media outlets which have falsely depicted Palestinian attackers as victims.
The completely misleading headline reads: “Israelis kill 4 Palestinians as violence surges.”
The article’s first paragraph is equally derelict as it fails to clearly report that the four Palestinians were killed had carried out, or attempted to carry out, stabbing attacks yesterday — three in Hebron, one in Jerusalem. (A fifth attack took place at the Qalandiya checkpoint later in the evening.) The article, by Doug Stanglin, begins:
Four Palestinians were shot and killed by Israelis Saturday in separate stabbing incidents in Jerusalem and the West Bank in the latest in a month-long surge in violent confrontations.
Only in the second paragraph is there the beginning of an indication that it is actually the Palestinian fatalities who initiated violent attacks, seeking to kill Israelis. But, as noted by Adam Levick, managing editor of UK Media, a member of CAMERA’s British department:
In our social media obsessed world dominated by Twitter, Facebook and internet memes, the headlines and blurbs of mainstream news stories are often all that news consumers notice.
Stay tuned for an update about a correction of this headline.
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