Where’s the Coverage? Four Palestinians Killed by Palestinians in ‘Clashes’

Four Palestinian Arabs were killed in “clashes between Palestinian security forces and terror suspects” in Nablus on Aug. 18-19 2016, the Jewish Telegraphic Agency (JTA) noted (“4 killed in Nablus fighting between Palestinian officers, terror suspects,” Aug. 19, 2016). At least two other Palestinians were wounded during the violence. However, the fighting was not reported by many U.S. news media outlets.

JTA, citing the French news agency AFP, said that the fighting began when Palestinian Authority (PA) security forces sought to “collect illegally owned weapons” in Nablus. Four PA operatives were shot. Two, identified by Palestinian news agency Ma’an as Shibli Ibrahim Abed Bani Shamseh and Mahmoud Tarayra, later died (“4 killed, 2 injured after clashes between wanted Palestinians and security forces,” Aug. 18, 2016).

The PA is tasked with security cooperation with Israel, to include efforts against terrorist groups, as part of the 1990s Oslo diplomatic process that created the authority. Despite this requirement, PA security has a history of participating in or encouraging terror attacks, such as in Dec. 3, 2015 when a PA intelligence officer attacked and wounded an Israeli civilian and IDF soldier (“Where’s the Coverage? Palestinian Official Shoots Israeli Solider,” CAMERA, Dec. 9, 2015).

Two other Palestinian men were killed early Aug. 19, 2016 “during armed clashes when security forces attempted to arrest them,” Ma’an said. Citing an unnamed Palestinian official, Ma’an reported that the PA has launched a “concerted campaign to detain the Palestinians responsible for the shooting.”

However, that “campaign” and the violence which preceded it went unreported by the U.S. news media. A Lexis-Nexis search of major print outlets, such as The Washington Post, The Washington Times, USA Today and The Baltimore Sun, showed not a single mention of the four Palestinians killed, the fighting or the raids.

By contrast, Israel frequently receives media attention that is often disproportionate and frequently inaccurate. As a recent CAMERA Op-Ed in The Hill noted, when Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s dog bit two dinner guests at a party, The New York Times, Time Magazine, Reuters, among others, carried the story (“Palestinian activist challenges anti-Israel campaign,” June 23, 2016). Of those outlets, only Reuters—in a four-sentence brief—reported the August 18-19 “clashes” in which four Palestinians were killed (“Four killed in Palestinian police arrest raid in West Bank,” Aug. 19, 2016).

In their report, Reuters uncritically quoted Adnan al Damiri, a Palestinian security spokesperson. However, as CAMERA has pointed out, al Damiri has a history of questionable statements. For example, he blamed the West for the March 22, 2016 Islamic State terror attack in Brussels, during which 31 people were murdered (“U.S. and EU-Trained Palestinian Official Blames West for Brussels Terror Attack,” March 24, 2016).

Al-Damiri told Ma’an news agency that “five [PA] security officers have been killed in the past month”—presumably by Palestinian terrorists. Not surprisingly, these deaths also received scant attention from the U.S. news media.

Where’s the coverage?