Writing for USA Today, special correspondent Shira Rubin provides readers with a brief, but surprisingly direct report on the recent terror attacks by Palestinian Arabs against Israelis—and the effects of these attacks on every day Israeli citizens (“In Jerusalem, living on edge is new normal,” Dec. 24, 2015). Surprising because such “start with the basics” coverage is comparatively rare.

The USA Today article begins by doing something not frequently done by major dailies such as The Washington Post and The New York Times, among others—quoting an Israeli civilian, in this instance a teacher named Talia Malek—who speaks about news worthy developments without equivocation.

Describing Malek’s use of public transport in Jerusalem to get to work—amid three months of “near daily attacks by Palestinians”—Rubin provides readers with an important perspective, one often missed.

“‘This is our city, this is our country, and we need to show that we cannot be intimidated,’ Malek says about her daily trips.

While noting Malek’s defiance in the face of terror, Rubin also quotes her concerns:

“Co-existence in Israel is possible… but this current situation reminds us that Palestinians see us as their enemy….And the moment that they have the chance they will—literally—stab us in the back.”

The USA Today article provides details about the recent terror attacks, noting that 20 Israelis and an American student have been killed.

In contrast to other recent coverage noted by CAMERA (for example, “AP, NYT Headlines Cast Palestinian Attackers as Victims, Ignore Dead Israelis,” December 24), Rubin evidences no problem with distinguishing attackers from victims.

In a one sentence paragraph, Rubin informs readers about a major cause of the violence:

“The attacks began after false word spread among Palestinians that Israel was going to take control of their holy site, [al-Aqsa mosque on Temple Mount] a claim repeated by Palestinian leaders despite repeated Israeli denials.”

CAMERA has noted (“Rocks Attack Cars, ‘Violence Spikes’ but Palestinian Arabs not Responsible,” October 5) how many major print news media outlets have failed to detail this use by Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and others of the so-called “al-Aqsa is in danger libel.” The false charge historically has encouraged violence against Jews and replicates earlier propaganda by Palestinian Arab leaders. Despite being provided via email with CAMERA background on the libel and its use by Abbas that preceded the recent terror attacks (“Incitement over Temple Mount Leads to Palestinian Violence, Again,” Sept. 16, 2015), The Washington Post among other major outlets downplayed when it did not ignore.

For example, in its December 26 coverage (“In Israel, a new form of violence”), The Post uncritically repeats PA officials claims that “Palestinian authorities are not initiating the violence” and “this [terror attacks] is caused by our humiliation and suffering”—omitting any mention of the incitement by Abbas and others.

Yet, in a one-sentence paragraph Rubin reports “root causes” other media—mesmerized by Palestinian claims about “the occupation,” “humiliation” and “frustration”—have missed or omitted. In eight short paragraphs she provides readers with Israeli perspectives and essential facts, frequently diminished or missing in much lengthier coverage.

Sometimes, less is more. And in this case it certainly was.

Knives, wrenches, and wooden clubs used to attack the soldiers on board the Mavi Marmara (photo courtesy of IDF)

In an article about Turkish-Israeli ties last week, The Los Angeles Times incorrectly reported:

In 2010, however, Israeli commandos intercepted a Turkish ship, the Mavi Marmara, that was attempting to deliver supplies to the Gaza Strip.

The photo caption in the print edition repeated the erroneous claim that the Mavi Marmara was “attempting to deliver supplies to Gaza.”

While the ship was part of a flotilla attempting to break Israel’s legal naval blockade of the Gaza Strip, the Mavi Marmara was not carrying any supplies and therefore was not attempting to deliver supplies. As Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs reported at the time:

Of the seven flotilla ships, only four were freight ships. The Challenger 1 (small yacht), the Sfendonh (small passenger boat) and the Mavi Marmara (passenger ship) did not carry any humanitarian aid, except for the passengers’ personal belongings. (Emphasis added.)

And, as Greta Berlin, one of the flotilla organizers, told Al Jazeera at the time: “This mission is not about delivering humanitarian supplies. . . “

CAMERA contacted editors to request a correction. Stay tuned for an update.

The Facebook page of Adnan al-Damiri, official spokesman for Palestinian Authority (PA) Security Forces, posted a message on Dec. 21, 2015 calling for “revolution” against Israel.

According to Palestinian Media Watch (PMW), a non-profit organization that monitors Arab media in the West Bank (Judea and Samaria), the Gaza Strip and eastern Jerusalem, al-Damiri’s official Facebook page shared the message from the Fatah Shabiba youth movement. The majority of PA officials belong to the Fatah movement, including current President Mahmoud Abbas.

The message stated:

“Teach your children to love the land
Teach them that we live a life of suffering
Teach them that there is a
seed in the ground If they water it with blood, a
revolution will flower
Teach them that Fatah is the
eternal revolution
That the ‘Storm’
Is the blade of the intifada
And that the Shabiba are the knights of the rocks” [.]

The post also celebrated the first Fatah attack against Israel, which it claims took place in 1965 (other sources, such as the Jewish Virtual Library, date the first attack as occurring in 1964).

PMW notes that Fatah also has recently shared cartoons on its Web site that encourage anti-Jewish violence and glorification of martyrdom. One such cartoon, shared by Fatah’s Information and Culture Commission on December 27, depicted a Palestinian Arab emerging from the blood of a dead compatriot clasping a rock and slingshot. This blood-covered Palestinian continues to throw rocks at an Israeli soldier.

Ten days earlier, PA Deputy Minister of Information Mahmoud Khalifa and Nida Younis, head of the PA’s Press Office, denied inciting anti-Jewish violence and accused PMW of “incitement against Palestinians.”

PMW notes that the use of cartoons and social media by Fatah and the PA to glorify terrorist attacks against Israel is common—and frequently mirrors statements by PA officials, such as Abbas encouraging spilling blood in Jerusalem in a Sept. 16, 2015 speech on official PA T.V.

A cartoon in Al-Hayat Al-Jadida [an official PA daily newspaper] on December 26 features Santa Claus approaching a Palestinian “martyr’s” mother who tells him, “I want to bury my son in the bosom of the land he redeemed with his blood, and [I ask] that he not remain in the Zionist refrigerators [referring to terrorists’ bodies being held temporarily by Israel before being transferred to the PA].”

According to the Oslo diplomatic process of the 1990s and the accords that created the PA and allowed for limited Palestinian Arab self-rule in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, the authority is required to prevent both incitement to and acts of, anti-Jewish violence. The agreement also called for greater cooperation between Israeli and PA security forces, with the latter receiving training and assistance from the U.S. and European forces.

CAMERA previously has documented (“Where’s the Coverage? Palestinian Official Shoots Israeli Soldier,” Dec. 9, 2015) how PA security officials have, at times, committed terror attacks against Israelis, civilian and non-civilian alike.

Are Palestinian Arabs, including members of PA security forces who commit terror attacks, merely ‘sharing’ the incitement to anti-Jewish violence condoned by PA leadership and disseminated through social media, cartoons, and daily newspapers, among other sources? It’s a good question journalists should be asking, and covering the answers.

Kuwaiti journalist Abdullah al-Hadlaq, a columnist for the Al-Watan newspaper has come out vocally in support of Israel several times before. In October, he ignited a firestorm of condemnation on Arab social media when he defended Israel’s right to defend itself against the “terrorism of [Palestinian] knives” in an Al Watan column.

Al-Hadlaq has now written a column criticizing the Arab media and defending Israel’s position for the Israeli media, published today in Israel Hayom.

He notes that

The Arab media has become afflicted with stupidity and delusion and has lost its ability make true distinctions. The words “wisdom” and “reason” are no longer part of its lexicon. It has become debased and mentally challenged. It considers the victims of battles in Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Yemen, etc. “casualties,” whereas the Palestinian terrorists killed in the Gaza Strip or in the West Bank are dubbed “shahids” (martyrs). This same media, which is biased in favor of a group of people called “Palestinians,” neglects every human, Arab, or Muslim issue and associates shahada (a martyr’s death in the name of belief) with them only….
…

Why, when Palestinian terrorists and murderers holding knives and rocks are killed by Israeli soldiers, who are forced to open fire in cases of legitimate self-defense, do these debased Arab media outlets twist the truth and call the Palestinian terrorists “shahids”? By what right did they earn that exalted rank, while being murderous terrorists and criminals? The accursed Arab media outlets that warp and make things up, glorify the murderers and terrorists as well as Palestinian crimes, and give them, exclusively, the title “shahid.”

Read the entire column here.

Channel WABC in New York was not the only television broadcast to slip up in its coverage of Palestinian fatalities Christmas Eve.

Judy Woodruff of PBS’ “Newshour” erred Dec. 24:

In Bethlehem, Christian pilgrims and tourists alike flocked to Manger Square, the traditional birthplace of Jesus. Other celebrations were canceled, as four more Palestinians died in clashes with Israeli forces. (Emphasis added.)

The excerpt in question is 4:26 seconds into the broadcast.

In fact, one Palestinian, gunman Bilal Omar Zayed, died in clashes with Israeli forces that day, not four. A Palestinian witness reported that Abu Zayed shot at Israeli troops in Kalandiya during an arrest. Troops returned fire. The other three Palestinians were killed as they carried out attacks against Israelis.

As the Associated Press reported that day:

Four Palestinians were killed on Thursday, among them three who Israel said were carrying out attacks on soldiers [sic — they also attacked civilian security guards, as indicated below] in the West Bank, the latest in a three month-long wave of unrelenting Israeli-Palestinian violence.

The four separate incidents came as revelers were gathering in the West Bank city of Bethlehem for Christmas celebrations, festivities that are being dampened by the latest outburst of violence.

Israeli authorities said that three Palestinians were killed after they carried out or attempted to carry out attacks against Israelis across the West Bank. A fourth Palestinian was killed in clashes with Israeli troops, according to a Palestinian hospital official.

In the first incident, police spokeswoman Luba Samri said the attacker approached the entrance to an industrial zone in the Ariel settlement and stabbed two security guards, wounding them moderately, before they shot and killed him. Two other Palestinians were killed in two other incidents, including an attack by a motorist on Israeli troops, with one soldier lightly wounded.

The fourth Palestinian, who died in clashes with the Israeli military in the Qalandiya refugee camp in the West Bank, was hit in the head by live fire, according to Ahmad Bitawi, the director of Ramallah hospital. (Emphases added.)

CAMERA has contacted “Newshour” editors to request a correction making clear, that contrary to the Dec. 24 report, one Palestinian died in clashes with Israeli forces that day (after he fired on Israeli troops), not four, while another three were killed as they carried out stabbings and car-ramming attacks against Israelis.

An egregiously misleading and distorted Channel 7 WABC Christmas Eve news broadcast in New York (11 pm) depicts Palestinian assailants as victims. Anchor Shirleen Allicot concludes a brief report about Christmas in Bethlehem as follows:

They were not kept away by the recent wave of violence between Palestinians and Israelis. Four Palestinians died in attacks across the West Bank. (Emphasis added.)

Viewers have no way of understanding from this skewed account that three of the Palestinians were killed as they carried out attacks against Israelis. The fourth was killed in clashes with Israeli soldiers.

As the Associated Press reported that day:

Four Palestinians were killed on Thursday, among them three who Israel said were carrying out attacks on soldiers in the West Bank, the latest in a three month-long wave of unrelenting Israeli-Palestinian violence.

The four separate incidents came as revelers were gathering in the West Bank city of Bethlehem for Christmas celebrations, festivities that are being dampened by the latest outburst of violence.

Israeli authorities said that three Palestinians were killed after they carried out or attempted to carry out attacks against Israelis across the West Bank. A fourth Palestinian was killed in clashes with Israeli troops, according to a Palestinian hospital official.

In the first incident, police spokeswoman Luba Samri said the attacker approached the entrance to an industrial zone in the Ariel settlement and stabbed two security guards, wounding them moderately, before they shot and killed him. Two other Palestinians were killed in two other incidents, including an attack by a motorist on Israeli troops, with one soldier lightly wounded.

The fourth Palestinian, who died in clashes with the Israeli military in the Qalandiya refugee camp in the West Bank, was hit in the head by live fire, according to Ahmad Bitawi, the director of Ramallah hospital. (Emphases added.)

CAMERA has contacted editors ABC’s New York station to request a clarification making clear that of the four Palestinians killed Dec. 24, three were killed as they carried out attacks against Israelis, and the fourth was killed in a violent clash with Israeli soldiers. Contrary to the false impression given in the Dec. 24 report, they were the perpetrators of West Bank attacks, not the victims.

The Associated Press, on Dec. 23, commendably corrected a headline which similarly had falsely depicted Palestinian assailants as victims.

Shabiba, a Palestinian Arab student group that belongs to the Fatah movement, decorated a Christmas tree with pictures of murderers and terrorists.

According to Palestinian Media Watch (PMW), an organization that monitors Arab media in the West Bank (Judea and Samaria), the Gaza Strip and eastern Jerusalem, Fatah posted pictures “of the tree along with members of its student movement on its official Facebook page.”

The majority of officials in the Palestinian Authority (PA) belong to Fatah. The PA was created as part of the 1990’s Oslo diplomatic process which allowed the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), previously designated a terror group by the United States, Israel and others, and its ruling Fatah party to relocate from Tunisia and establish limited self-rule in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. As part of Oslo, PA officials are required to prevent incitement to anti-Jewish violence, as well as attacks themselves.

Terrorists whose images were adorned by Fatah on the tree include Fathi Shaqaqi, the founder of Islamic Jihad, which is a U.S.-designated terrorist group responsible for more than 1,000 attacks and Abu Ali Mustafa, secretary-general of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), another U.S.-listed terrorist organization and one that rejected the Oslo accords.

A picture of Muhannad Halabi also was hung proudly by Fatah as a Christmas ornament. Halabi murdered 2 Israeli civilians, Rabbi Nehemiah Lavi and Aharon Bennet, during an Oct. 3, 2015 terrorist attack in Jerusalem’s Old City. Before he was killed by Israeli police, Halabi also stabbed Bennett’s wife Adele and their 2-year-old child, who both survived.

In a Facebook post prior to the attack, Halabi stated that he was committing the attacks in response to PA claims that Israel was going to change the status quo at the Al-Aqsa Mosque. As CAMERA has documented (“Incitement over Temple Mount Leads to Palestinian Violence, Again,” Sept. 16 2015), this libel has been used on numerous occasions to incite anti-Jewish violence.

CAMERA has noted other efforts by Palestinian Arab leadership to honor Halabi, such as the PA ministry of education planting trees in his name and the PA Bar Association awarding him an honorary law degree (“’Moderate’ Palestinian Authority Honors Murderers with Trees and Law Degrees,” October 15).

A sign near the Christmas tree that appeared in Shabiba’s Facebook post was translated by PMW:

“The way to freedom is a bullet and a Martyr, a pen and a prisoner, an olive tree and a wounded, a crescent and a cross [.] Merry Christmas [Fatah] Shabiba student movement Birzeit University.”

Birzeit University, where the photographed tree and smiling Shabiba students are apparently located, has active student groups representing both Fatah and its sometime rival Hamas, also U.S.-designated terrorist group. The university is located in the town of Birzeit near Ramallah and has hosted previously anti-Israel guest speakers, including American linguist Noam Chomsky. Birzeit University Fund, a self-described charitable organization based in Royal, Oak Michigan, raises money for the college.

PMW reports that at a recent December 15 meeting with British and Australian politicians, the PA Minister of Education, Sabri Saidam, and PA Prime Minister, Rami Hamdallah, denied that the PA and Fatah glorify terrorists.

Regarding PA incitement to violence and memorializing murderers, perhaps Charles Dickens, the famous Victorian-era author, said it best in A Christmas Carol: “An idea, like a ghost, must be spoken to a little before it will explain itself.”

The Islamic Republic of Iran hacked into the control system of a dam near New York City two years ago, according to The Wall Street Journal (“Iranian Hackers Infiltrated New York Dam in 2013,” Dec. 20, 2015). WSJ reported that the incident sparked “concerns that reached to the White House, according to former and current U.S. officials and experts familiar with the previously undisclosed incident.” The Journal broke the news of this still classified dam intrusion through interviews and an unclassified Homeland Security document, among other sources.

The paper reported that systems of the type hacked by Iran “control the flow in pipelines, the movements of drawbridges and water releases from dams. A hacker could theoretically cause an explosion, a flood or a traffic jam.” The attacks occurred during a period of intensive computer hacking by the Iranian government, targets of which included U.S. banks, such as Capital One Financial Corp., PNC Financial Services and SunTrust Banks.

According to an unclassified Homeland Security summary of the dam intrusion, Iranian hackers were thought to have gained access via a cellular modem. The hackers did not take control of the dam, but rather probed the system.

The breach was noticed by U.S. intelligence agencies who were monitoring computers linked to Iranian hackers. WSJ reports:

“Intelligence analysts then noticed that one of the machines was crawling the Internet, looking for vulnerable U.S. industrial-control systems. The hackers appeared to be focusing on certain Internet addresses….Eventually, investigators linked one address to a ‘Bowman’ dam.”

Since there are 31 different dams in the U.S. that include the word “Bowman” in their names, officials originally worried that the Bowman Dam in Oregon had been compromised. That is a 245-foot-tall structure that prevents flooding in Prineville, population of 9,200. At this point, the White House was notified.

However, the breach was traced eventually to the Bowman Avenue Dam, a 20-foot-tall structure near the village of Rye Brook, N.Y.

In a separate but related Associated Press story that ran in The Boston Globe and appeared on the ABC News Web site (“U.S. electrical grid vulnerable to hackers,” December 21), reporters Garance Burke and Jonathan Fahey noted that “digital clues pointed to Iranian hackers” infiltrating the United States power grid. The hackers had “already taken passwords, as well as engineering drawings of dozens of power plants, at least one with the title ‘Mission Critical.’ The drawings were so detailed that experts say skilled attackers could have used them, along with other tools and malicious code, to knock out electricity flowing to millions of homes. The breach involved Calpine Corp., a power producer with 82 plants operating in 18 states and Canada.”

AP reported that cyber breaches of the power grid provide potential enemies with the information and ability to “strike at will.”

USA Today, The Baltimore Sun, The Washington Post and The New York Times, among others, did not cover this Iranian cyber-attack on U.S. infrastructure which had resulted in a White House briefing. While the dam intrusion is still classified, unclassified summaries by Homeland Security and The Wall Street Journal report itself give information that other outlets could have provided to their readers.

CAMERA recently noted (“Iran Increases Cyber-attacks against the United States; Where’s the Coverage,” November 30) that Iran has increased its cyber-attacks against the United States—although much of the media has failed to take note.

“The public,” Burke and Fahey of the Associated Press wrote,” almost never learns the details of these types of attacks—they’re rare but also more intricate and potentially dangerous than data theft. Information about the government’s response to these hacks is often protected and sometimes classified; many are never even reported to the government.”

Perhaps another reason the public “never learns” about cyber-attacks on the power grid is due to their being unreported by the news media.

Where was the coverage?

There has been considerable debate over the beliefs and goals of the Muslim Brotherhood. Many prominent Muslim organizations in both the United Kingdom and the United States are linked to the Muslim Brotherhood, including the highly visible Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR). Muslim Brotherhood-affiliated student groups feature prominently on college campuses.

Despite the fact that CAIR and other groups have been linked by law enforcement to terrorist groups, some American and British officials have gone on record describing the Muslim Brotherhood as a moderating force that should be engaged. Departments of the United States government, including those involved in homeland security, have worked with Muslim Brotherhood-linked organizations. Individuals associated with Muslim Brotherhood affiliates have been invited to the White House and even officiated at government events.

Other officials, scholars and commentators have argued that the Muslim Brotherhood should be ostracized, accusing the group and its affiliates of seeking to infiltrate and subvert western society. In some cases, such warnings have been met with accusations of Islamophobia.

In April 2014, British Prime Minister David Cameron commissioned an internal review of the Muslim Brotherhood, “including its origins, ideology, record in and out of government; and its organisation and activities in the UK and abroad.” The chief authors of the report were Sir John Jenkins, until recently HM Ambassador to Riyadh, Saudi Arabia and Charles Farr, who served as the Director General of the Office for Security and Counter Terrorism in the Home Office.

On December 17, 2015, the authors presented their findings to the House of Commons. The investigators concluded that the Muslim Brotherhood represents a break from traditional Islam. It has “promoted a radical, transformative politics, at odds with a millennium of Islamic jurisprudence and statecraft.”

The authors observed that although “the Muslim Brotherhood historically focused on remodelling individuals and communities through grassroots activism… they have also selectively used violence and sometimes terror in pursuit of their institutional goals.”

Although much of the report remains classified, the public portion discloses that “Their [Muslim Brotherhood] public narrative – notably in the West – emphasised engagement not violence. But there have been significant differences between Muslim Brotherhood communications in English and Arabic.”

Contrary to the hoped for moderation of the Muslim Brotherhood when it achieved political power in Egypt, a concept advocated by media mavens like Christiane Amanpour and The New York Times, the British investigation refuted these prognostications as nonsense, noting,

there is little evidence that the experience of power in Egypt has caused a rethinking in the
Muslim Brotherhood of its ideology or conduct. UK official engagement with the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood produced no discernible change in their thinking. Indeed even by mid-2014 statements from Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood-linked media platforms seem to have deliberately incited violence…

Concerning Muslim Brotherhood activities within the UK itself, the commission offered disturbing observations that

much about the Muslim Brotherhood in the UK remains secretive, including membership, fund raising and educational programmes. But Muslim Brotherhood associates and affiliates here have at times had significant influence on the largest UK Muslim student organisation, national organisations which have claimed to represent Muslim communities (and on that basis have sought and had a dialogue with Government), charities and some mosques.

Though their domestic influence has declined organisations associated with the Muslim Brotherhood continue to have an influence here which is disproportionate to their size…

Those who have made similar observations about the radical disposition and disproportionate influence of the Muslim Brotherhood in the United States find themselves marginalized and rebuked by government officials.

The British report also notes that

the Muslim Brotherhood have been publicly committed to political engagement in this country… But this engagement did not take account of Muslim Brotherhood support for a proscribed terrorist group and its views about terrorism which, in reality, were quite different from our own.

The commission report concludes on a sober note, establishing that

aspects of Muslim Brotherhood ideology and tactics, in this country and overseas, are contrary to our values and have been contrary to our national interests and our national security.

Supporting the report’s findings, Prime Minister Cameron described the movement as “deliberately opaque and habitually secretive” and in a statement to MPs, the Prime Minister wrote: “Aspects of the Muslim Brotherhood’s ideology and activities… run counter to British values of democracy, the rule of law, individual liberty, equality and the mutual respect and tolerance of different faiths and beliefs (The Independent, Dec. 17, 2015).”

The following letter was sent to Foreign Affairs Nov. 23 2015, but went unpublished:

“Dear Editor:

Violeta Moura’s photo gallery and accompanying article on “Breaking the Silence” (“Israeli Soldiers Break Their Silence,” November 18) omits far too much about this essentially anti-Israel group that claims to report alleged abuses by the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF).

“Breaking the Silence” (BTS) has been described by NGO-Monitor, an organization that tracks non-governmental organizations operating in Israel, as dedicated to providing non-Israelis with defamatory, often unsubstantiated allegations about the IDF. The group has consistently refused to provide authorities with evidence for its allegations, despite the Israeli army’s order requiring members to report any violation of regulations that results in harm to noncombatants and investigate substantial charges.

Moura rightfully notes that the group’s allegations are presented anonymously, but she repeats uncritically—in a photo essay with pictures of BTS members—its claims that the anonymity in question is for protection. While she briefly notes “accusations that the stories are fabricated,” she quickly repeats—without detail—the groups assertion it “use[s] a rigorous investigative method to corroborate all claims.” What exactly this method is neither BTS nor Moura say.

Instead of providing Israeli authorities with evidence to back charges of Israeli military abuse of non-combatants, the group conducts speaking tours before anti-Israel audiences far from the borders of the Jewish state.

“Breaking the Silence” bills itself as an Israeli non-profit. However, it receives substantial funding from European groups and governments opposed not only to Israeli policies, but in some instances to Israel itself. Some of the groups’ donors, such as Broederlijik Delen, a Belgian Christian charity, also fund openly anti-Israel organizations. Moura’s article omits this important background. These tactics raise questions about the group’s objectives, as does the source of their funding.

The group’s unsubstantiated allegations that the IDF commits crimes and regularly uses disproportionate force runs counter to expert testimony from independent military sources. After an American military delegation visited Israel following the summer 2014 Hamas-initiated war, then-chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Martin Dempsey stated that Israel “went to extraordinary lengths to limit collateral damage and civilian casualties.”

Similarly, a 2015 report by the High Level International Military Group—which includes former chiefs of staff of German, Italian and Spanish militaries, among others—concluded that “Israel not only met a reasonable international standard of observance of the laws of armed conflict, but in many cases significantly exceeded that standard.” The group concluded that Israel’s adherence to the laws of war—while fighting an enemy that does not share its moral compunctions—was “scrupulous.”

Foreign Affairs readers examining the “Breaking the Silence” photo gallery would learn none of this. The essay broke the journalistic standard of fully disclosing the “who,” which could have offered answers to readers looking for the feature’s “why.”

Sincerely,

Sean Durns
Media Assistant
CAMERA—Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting in America”