Schizophrenia is defined as “a state characterized by the coexistence of contradictory or incompatible elements.” This certainly applies to CNN headlines for articles about two separate but similar events.

An armed man attacks school children and is killed by security forces.

CNN headlined the story, “Sword-wielding man kills 2 in Swedish school attack.”

You see, the emphasis is on the attacker’s actions. That is the genesis of the story. The headline does not even mention that the killer was himself killed. But, that was in Sweden, with Swedish school children and Swedish security forces.

In Israel, two armed men tried to board a school bus full of children, were prevented from doing so by people on the bus, then stabbed a man waiting at a bus stop. They were shot and wounded by security forces and were taken to a hospital, along with their victim. One of the terrorists later died of his wounds.

Does the CNN headline read, “Knife-wielding attackers stab civilian after trying to board school bus full of children”?

No. The original headline does not even mention the victim. Instead, it makes the Palestinian terrorists into the victims, reading “Armed Palestinians shot after trying to board bus with children on board”.

These are similar incidents but CNN handles them in contradictory and incompatible ways.

A revised, slightly better but still inadequate, headline reads, as of this writing, “Knife-wielding Palestinians shot after stabbing Israeli man”. While mentioning the victim of the stabbing, though now ignoring the terrorized children, the headline also presents the Palestinian assailants as victims.

Since most readers simply scan headlines and never read the accompanying articles, they never get the full story – even if the article is accurate, which it frequently is not. Extra care must be used by editors when writing these important phrases. In this case, CNN could use some therapy.

Terror group the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (referred to variously as ISIS, ISIL or IS) joins several Palestinian Arab terror groups, including Hamas and factions of the Fatah movement, in calling for attacks against Israelis.

A report compiled by the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI) details ISIS propaganda efforts, including videos and social media,that recently have targeted Palestinian Arabs.

Some of the videos refer to Arabs residing in Jerusalem (referred to as Bayt al-Maqdis the “holy house in Arabic, following the Hebrew Bible’s reference to the Temple as “the most holy house,” but ha-Kodesh) as mujahideen (holy warriors). They encourage viewers to murder Jews using knives, cars, car bombs, stones, IEDs (improvised explosive devices) and other methods. Perhaps in case the message was somehow ambiguous, ISIS news agency A’maq created an infographic illustrating these and other recommended methods to murder Jews. Some ISIS members refer to the Banu Qurayza, a Jewish tribe accused of treason and subsequently beheaded or sold into slavery by followers of Muhammed in 627 CE.

In its appeals, ISIS claims that it will “liberate” the al-Aqsa mosque. One ISIS terrorist in southern Iraq, Abu Nour Al-Ansari, claimed:

“We will not enjoy our lives or take pleasure with a lavish abode until we liberate Al-Aqsa from the defilement of the sons of apes and pigs [Jews]. Here they are, the soldiers of the ISIS caliphate, fighting in Iraq and Syria, and advancing on Palestine. Your day approaches, oh community of Jews.”

“Liberate” by their definition and that of other Islamist terror groups like Hamas and Fatah’s al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, frequently means to kill or enslave those, such as Jews, Christians and other Middle Eastern minorities who do not share their doctrinal, Salafist interpretation of Islam.

Al-Ansari’s rhetoric is far from original.

PA state-run media periodically refers to Jews as the “sons of pigs and apes,” as a CAMERA monograph has noted (Indicting Israel: New York Times Coverage of the Palestinian-Israeli Conflict, 2012).

Palestinian Authority President and Fatah party head Mahmoud Abbas has recently also called for shedding Jewish blood over al-Aqsa. In a August 1 speech Abbas employed a long-used libel, inciting anti-Jewish violence by falsely claiming Jews planned “to get rid of al-Aqsa and establish their so-called ‘Temple.’” On September 16, he exhorted, “The al-Aqsa is ours…and they [Jews] have no right to defile it with their filthy feet…We bless every drop of blood that has been spilled for Jerusalem.” Abbas adviser Sultan Aub Al-Einein has, like the ISIS terrorists in the video, praised Palestinian Arabs for attacking Jews.

Hamas also has called for murdering Jews. According to The Times of Israel, Hamas leaders are encouraging Palestinian Arabs living in Fatah-ruled West Bank (Judea and Samaria) to murder Israelis by suicide bombings (“Hamas said urging Palestinians to carry out suicide bombings,” Oct. 19, 2015). The MEMRI report notes that ISIS media, including those featuring a song called “Soon, Soon” and an eight-minute video entitled “The Slaughter of the Jews,” are popular in the Gaza Strip.

While the report shows ISIS encouraging Palestinian violence, it also may indicate that the Islamic State views other terror groups like Hamas as rivals. According to the MEMRI research fellows who produced the report, M. Shemesh and R. Green, ISIS is attempting to “insert itself” into the Palestinian issue and portray itself as “the force defending all the world’s Muslims.” Green and Shemesh write that these efforts by ISIS attempt to counter criticism by Islamist rivals that it doesn’t “devote sufficient attention” to fighting Israel. They write that “it should be stressed that except for statements of support and encouragement for the attackers, the videos include no ISIS statement of intent to actually join in the war on Israel in the foreseeable future” as the group is “busy with their wars in Iraq, Syria, and elsewhere.”

With the recent and ongoing terror attacks by Palestinian Arabs, it could be said that while ISIS is “busy,” others are fighting the Islamic State’s declared war on Israel in almost exactly the manner ISIS prescribes and using remarkably similar language to describe it.

The MEMRI report on ISIS and Israel can be found here.

Reuters photo captions yesterday referred to Palestinian stabbing, shooting and ramming attacks against Israelis as “Palestinians confronting Israelis.”

The caption states:

A Palestinian woman supporting the Islamic Jihad movement holds a copy of the Koran as she takes part in a rally in Gaza City to show solidarity with Palestinians confronting Israelis in the West Bank and Jerusalem October 20, 2015. REUTERS/Mohammed Salem

This one is:

A Palestinian woman supporting the Islamic Jihad movement holds a copy of the Koran as another holds a knife during a rally in Gaza City to show solidarity with Palestinians confronting Israelis in the West Bank and Jerusalem October 20, 2015. REUTERS/Mohammed Salem

If the recent spate of stabbings, shootings and rammings were Palestinians “confronting” Israelis, I’d sure hate to see how Palestinians attack Israelis.

The Executive Council of the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) is expected to take up a draft resolution prepared by the Palestinian Authority that would designate the Western Wall, or Kotel HaMa’aravi, as part of al-Aqsa Mosque, the tomb of Rachel as the burial place of Bilal Ibn Rabah, a companion of Islam’s prophet, Mohammed, and declare the Cave of the Patriarchs as a Muslim shrine and part of “Palestine.” This matter may go to the full UNESCO plenum, where “Palestine,” which has no established boundaries, no government in control of its population or other attributes of a sovereign country, is a recognized member state. As in all matters before committees at the United Nations, the overwhelming pro-Arab — or, more to the point, anti-Israel — majority guarantees passage of proposals that are utterly without merit and often, as in this case, simultaneously ludicrous and outrageous.

For years, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and other Palestinian leaders have denied the existence of the First and Second Temples and attempted to expunge any Jewish — and therefore key Christian — connections to Jerusalem’s holy sites. Last month, Abbas declared that the Temple Mount and the Church of the Holy Sepulchre “are ours”. This historical revisionism and attempted religious suppression is an affront to Jews and Christians alike as these sites are central to both religions. Furthermore, rather than protecting holy sites, Palestinian groups have been desecrating and destroying them, including Rachel’s Tomb, Joseph’s Tomb and the Church of the Nativity.

Some Arab and Muslim representatives long have decried non-existent attempts to “Judaize” Jerusalem. The archaeological evidence of Judaism’s deep connection to the holy city are everywhere and the Hebrew Bible mentions Jerusalem or its synonym, Zion, hundreds of times, the Koran not at all. But this very real and sinister movement to de-Judaize Jerusalem, and thereby implicitly deny Christianity’s attachment to some of its holy places, should not be promoted by any nation or international body. Rather, it should be condemned. Passage of such a proclamation would only legitimize the bloodthirsty incitement perpetuated by Palestinian leaders through public statements, media reports, sermons and television shows. This incitement is the cause of the surge in violence against Jews sweeping Israel and the resultant self-defense measures being undertaken there. Any nation or group that claims to promote peace and understanding must reject this resolution.

For more information on the history of Jerusalem and its connection to the three monotheistic religions, please click here.

Update: According to Times of Israel:

Israel’s ambassador to UNESCO, Carmel Shama Hacohen, confirmed to Israel Radio Wednesday that the Palestinian delegation had proposed a new version of the controversial resolution, removing the clause that would have declared the Western Wall a Muslim site.

[…]

The resolution… still contains a request to recognize Rachel’s Tomb in Bethlehem and the Tomb of the Patriarchs in Hebron as Muslim sites. Israeli diplomats said they would continue to fight the resolution, and try to get allied states to reject it.

Update #2: Arutz Sheva reports the revised resolution has passed:

UNESCO (the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization) passed a resolution Wednesday listing the Cave of the Patriarchs in Hevron and Rachel’s Tomb in Bethlehem as Muslim sites.

The Los Angeles Times today covers up the fact that Palestinian police beat Jews who illegally visited Joseph’s Tomb. The article today, with the somewhat vague headline “Man opens fire in crowded bus station in Israel, 1 killed; 9 injured,” mentions the Joseph’s Tomb incident at the end of the piece.

A reminder of the explosive role of religion in the conflict came overnight as 30 Jews violated standing instructions from Israel’s military and entered the West Bank city of Nablus to visit the site of Joseph’s Tomb, a Jewish holy site under Palestinian control, parts of which were damaged by fire the night before.

Palestinian security services blocked the Jews from entering and coordinated with Israel’s military to extricate them from an angry crowd. Israeli soldiers detained five of the violators, who were later placed under house arrest.

In two paragraphs about the incident, The Los Angeles Times provides not a word about how the Palestinian Authority police themselves beat the Israelis. Haaretz reported:

Some 30 Israelis made their way to Nablus early Sunday morning in order to pray at Joseph’s Tomb. Upon arrival they were attacked by local Palestinians. One of the vehicles they came in was set ablaze.

Palestinian security forces rushed to the scene and arrested five of the Israelis, beating a few in the process, before turning them over to the Israel Police. Israeli soldiers, in coordination with the Palestinian forces on the ground, were called in and extracted the remaining Israelis.

Similarly, Times of Israel reported:

The detainees told police that after they arrived at the shrine, Palestinian Authority Police officers confronted them and cocked their guns at them. The police officers also attacked them with clubs and sticks and hit them with the butts of their guns, they said.

Can you imagine how The Times would cover an incident in which Israeli security forces beat Palestinian worshipers? Actually, there’s no need for imagination.

Take this Sept. 15, 2015 Los Angeles Times article which carried the following headline in the print edition: “Israeli police battle again battle Palestinian protesters at disputed holy site in Old City.” The article begins:

For the third day in a row, Israeli police clashed Tuesday with Palestinian protesters at a disputed holy site in Jerusalem’s Old City, according to Palestinian officials and Israeli police. . . .

Palestinians said police fired stun grenades at the protesters and attacked others with clubs, injuring several and causing damage to the mosque building. Israeli police said forces entered the compound to disperse Palestinian protesters who threw rocks at them.

Oct. 20 Update: NBC Corrects: Netanyahu Didn’t Spread False Information on Pisgat Zeev Victim

In a highly skewed article last week “about the swirl of conflicting information” concerning the Oct. 12 stabbing in which two Palestinian teens, cousins Ahmed and Hassan Manasrah, critically wounded two Israelis, one of them 13, NBC News charges Prime Minister Netanyahu of contributing to the misinformation (“Dispute Over Viral Video of Shot Ahmed Manasrah Sums Up Israeli-Palestinian Conflict”). Cassandra Vinograd, Lawazej Jabari and Paul Goldman write:

Israeli President [sic] Benjamin Netanyahu slammed the sea of misinformation and misinformation — but himself got the facts wrong, saying a Jewish child had been killed of injured — in an impassioned speech telling Palestinian authorities to “stop lying” and inciting violence.

“An Arab boy fatally wounds a Jewish child and after that the security forces stop and prevent him fro continuing on a stabbing spree and he becomes a martyr supposedly executed unjustly?” Netanyahu told the Knesset. . . .

It’s NBC — not Netanyahu — who is getting the facts wrong. First, Netanyahu is Israel’s Prime Minister, not President. Second, Netanyahu did not say “An Arab boy fatally wounds a Jewish child.”

In his Oct. 13 address to the Knesset, he said (see Hebrew speech here) an Israeli youth was critically wounded, not killed: “An Arab youth critically wounded an Israeli youth. . .”

Unfortunately, the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs provided an incorrect English translation of Netanyahu’s speech, and NBC exploited that error to falsely cast Netanyahu as the purveyor of false information. Indeed, on her Facebook page, Cassandra Vinograd bemoans “the misinformation on both sides.”

Meanwhile, the article does not at all mention Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’ false claim that Israeli police shot dead the 13-year-old perpetrator, Ahmed Manasrah. Read here for Vinograd’s explanation as to why.

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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Remember when CNN hired James Earl Jones as the voice for its identifier that it played during commercial breaks?

“This is CNN,” he said in that deep, sonorous voice of his.

Jones sounded so commanding, so authoritative, so reliable, so trustworthy. You just had to stay tuned to the network.

These days, CNN would do better to hire Krusty the Clown from The Simpsons to state the identifier for the network during commercial breaks. He’d be perfect: “Hey boys and girls, this is CNN. A few people watch us, but nobody trusts us!”

CNN demonstrated its unreliability with a headline for a story about Joseph’s Tomb being set on fire in the West Bank on Thursday. In a display of callous indifference for religious freedom and tolerance, a group of Palestinians torched the building. USA Today covered the story as follows:

Palestinians late Thursday set fire to a religious site in the West Bank revered by some Jews as the tomb of biblical patriarch Joseph.

In a separate incident on Friday, a Palestinian impersonating a journalist stabbed an Israeli solider.

The attacks came as the militant group Hamas called for a “day of rage” against Israel to begin following afternoon prayers.

Here is CNN’s headline for the story:
(more…)

The following unpublished letter was sent to The Wall Street Journal on Oct. 7, 2015:

“Dear Editor:

“The U.S. military does go to great lengths to minimize civilian casualties, an accomplishment made more impressive given the frequent use of civilians as ‘human shields’ by terrorists (‘The Taliban and the Hospital,’ October 5). Yet, it should be noted that the Israeli military may well have set the standard in this regard, according to a former commander of British forces in Afghanistan.”

“Col. Richard Kemp has pointed out that according to U.N. estimates, the ratio of civilian to combat deaths in most conflicts worldwide, including U.S. and coalition operations in Afghanistan, is 3:1; three civilians for every combatant killed. Citing U.N. figures showing a ratio of roughly 1:1 civilian-to-combat deaths during Israel’s 2008 war against the Hamas terror group, Kemp said ‘the Israeli Defence Forces did more to safeguard the rights of civilians in a combat zone than any other army in the history of warfare.’”

“Such ratios highlight the distinction between the values of Western militaries and their enemies. It might be worth examining whether those militaries’ practice of incurring disproportionate risks and losses of life often unrecognized by the press or other countries emboldens enemies and prolongs conflicts.

Sincerely,

Sean Durns

Media Assistant

CAMERA—Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting in America”

The Fatah movement, led by Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud Abbas, has honored Muhannad Shafeq Halabi by bringing soil from near the al-Aqsa mosque on Temple Mount to his grave. On Oct. 8, 2015 Halabi murdered two Israelis, Rabbi Nehemiah Lavi and Ahharon Bennett, and stabbed Benet’s wife and two-year old child in Jerusalem’s Old City before he was killed by Israeli police.

Illustrating their continued use of the “al-Aqsa” libel, as has been documented by CAMERA (“Incitement over Temple Mount Leads to Palestinian Violence, Again,” Sept. 16, 2015), Fatah officials said they brought the soil to Halabi’s grave, “so that the dead body of Martyr Muhannad Halabi can hug the soil for which he died a Martyr.”

According to Palestinian Media Watch (PMW), a non-profit watchdog that monitors Palestinian news outlets, Abbas justified current terror attacks by Palestinian Arabs against Israeli civilians and security forces, saying, “We have to protect our holy sites”—again falsely implying that al-Aqsa mosque and other Islamic shrines are in danger from a Jewish conspiracy.

Abbas similarly lied and incited violence in a PA-state television speech in which he claimed that Israel had “executed the child Ahmed Mansara in cold blood, just like they do to other children in Jerusalem and other Palestinian territories (“Abbas Accuses Israel of ‘Executing’ Child Terrorist,” Arutz Sheva, Oct. 14, 2015).

In fact, Ahmed Mansara was not executed, but is currently being treated in an Israeli hospital for injuries sustained from being hit by a car. Mansara was hit while fleeing, after he and his cousin stabbed a 13 year-old Jewish child on a bicycle.

On his Facebook page, Abbas adviser Sultan Abu Al-Einen called the attacks against Lavi, Bennett and his family a “heroic operation.” The PA received $440 million in U.S. aid last year alone, and under Abbas’ leadership, is frequently referred to by some in the press and policymakers as “moderate” (“PA to receive $440 million in U.S. funds in 2014,” The Jerusalem Post, Jan. 1, 2014).

Before murdering Lavi and Bennett, Halabi took to Facebook to justify his actions, stating that Palestinian “resistance” was a response to Israel’s (non-existent) activity at al-Aqsa.

On October 13, the PA Ministry of Education announced that it would plant olive trees and place signs with the names of terrorists, like Halabi, who have died killing Israelis.

By contrast, the Jewish National Fund (JNF), the largest environmental, conservation and development organization in Israel, has been planting trees since 1901, often to honor the memories of Jews and non-Jews alike. JNF efforts have even led to Israel being one of only two countries in the world that saw a net increase in the number of trees at the beginning of the 21st century (“Helsinki Environmental ‘World Village’ Bans Jewish National Fund,” The Jewish Press, May 31, 2015).

Despite these efforts, Boycott Israel and other groups associated with the boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) effort, such as Jewish Voice for Peace Rabbinical Council, have lobbied to ban the JNF, claiming it prevents peace by planting trees. A look at Boycott Israel’s website shows no similar outcry over recent PA tree-planting policies—nor any mention of recent Palestinian Arab terror attacks against Jews.

The PA Ministry of Education said it is planting trees and placing signs to honor “martyrs”, claiming doing so would “instill national and humanitarian values in the minds of the young, and respect for the symbols of the struggle.”

The PA Bar Association, which receives funds from the European Union and the United Nations, also honored Halabi’s memory by awarding him posthumously an honorary law degree. As PMW notes, the association also called the killer a “heroic Martyr” on its website, paid a condolence visit to his family and decided that it will “name its swearing-in ceremony for the next class of lawyers after Martyr Muhannad Halabi.”

Writing in The Washington Post’s online blog, the Volokh Conspiracy, law professor David Bernstein also noted the PA Bar Association’s decision (“Palestinian Bar Association Grants Honorary Degree to Terrorist Who Murdered Two Israeli’s,” December 30). Bernstein wrote, “I think it deserves more attention. Glorification of brutal terrorist murderers is hardly uncommon in the Palestinian territories; indeed, it’s official government policy in both the West Bank and Gaza. But to have the bar association do it seems particularly noteworthy.”

Mahmoud Abbas once asserted, “We cannot build foundations of a state without rule of law.” By naming a graduating class of lawyers after a dead murderer, what kind of state does Abbas expect to build?

PMW’s reports on PA efforts to honor perpetrators of recent terror attacks can be found here and here.

This post was updated on Jan. 4, 2016 to add The Washington Post article by David Bernstein