AFP Misleads Again, This Time About World Vision
In an article today about doubts in Gaza regarding Israel’s case against World Vision‘s Mohammed al-Halabi, charged with diverting tens of millions of dollars in aide to Hamas, Agence France Presse claims (“Gazans, NGO question Israeli charges against aid worker”):
The German and Australian governments, as donors, have additional mechanisms including external audits and they have found no major concerns.
Both the German and Australian governments have suspended their aid to World Vision, a rather unusual response for those who have allegedly cleared the aid organization of significant wrongdoing. While AFP itself noted on Aug. 11 that “Germany and Australia have suspended aid to World Vision,” today’s story completely omits this fact, leaving readers with the impression that Germany and Australia have cleared the organization.
CAMERA was not able to independently verify the claim that the two governments carried out audits which revealed no significant wrongdoing on the part of World Vision. CAMERA has requested that AFP either substantiate the claim, or correct. In addition, the fact that Germany and Australia cut off aid to World Vision should be added to the story.
In a separate AFP article today (“Jerusalem police kill Palestinian would-be attacker“), the influential wire agency deviates from its standard formulation regarding Palestinian fatalities. Today’s article omits the key point that the majority of those Palestinians killed were carrying out attacks against Israelis. The incomplete passage is:
Violence has surged in the Palestinian Territories and Israel since October 2015, costing the lives of 223 Palestinians, 34 Israelis, two Americans and one Eritrean and Sudanese respectively, according to a tally by AFP.
This article omits the following critical information which appears in other AFP articles:
Most of the Palestinians killed were carrying out knife, gun or car-ramming attacks, according to Israeli authorities.
CAMERA has contacted editors to request that they add this key information.
See also from today: “AFP Misleads on Gaza ‘Food Shortages’“
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