Jordan Confirms Attack on Guard, Reuters Conceals

Jordanian officials agree with Israeli officials that Jordanian carpenter Mohammed Jawawdah attacked Israeli embassy guard Ziv Moyal with a screwdriver before Moyal shot him dead. But Reuters refuses to report the Jordanian confirmation. In story after story, rather than reporting Jawawdah’s attack on Moyal as fact, the influential wire service attributes the information to Israel, as if Jordan has not confirmed the attack, and as if the facts are not known.

Here’s what Jordan’s Public Security Directorate concluded last week, and what Reuters refuses to tell readers:

Based on statements by eyewitnesses, Two persons came at the apartment located inside the compound to furnish the bedroom.

during [sic] the work inside the apartment, a dispute has erupted between carpenters as one of them is the son of carpentry owner, a verbal arguments delayed the completion of work. the [sic] son of carpentry owner attacked the Israeli diplomat who responded by shooting the carpenter the apartment owner. Injuries of both wounded led to instantaneous death upon arrival to the medical hospital.

Testimonies of eyewitnesses revealed that during the verbal argument between the carpenter and the son of carpentry owner, the carpenter attacked the Israeli diplomat who responded by shooting. The owner of the apartment was shot and pronounced dead. The testimony of the door man was the same of other eye witnesses.

The fact that multiple Jordanian eyewitnesses concur that Jawawdeh attacked the Israeli guard has not prevented Reuters from attributing the information only to Israel. Today, for example, in an article about an averted face-off between a Jordanian and an Israeli lawmaker (“Netanyahu calls off fistfight between Israeli, Jordanian lawmakers“), Reuters qualifies:

The July 23 shooting to death of two Jordanians by an Israeli embassy guard who said he was acting in self-defense has outraged Amman, stirred up pro-Palestinian sentiment in the kingdom and prompted U.S. mediation efforts.

In a July 28 article (“Jordanian protesters at Israeli embassy call for ending peace treaty“), Reuters likewise concealed the Jordanian finding that Jawawdeh attacked Moyal:

Israel said the guard had been defending himself after Jawawdeh assaulted him with a screwdriver in a “terrorist attack”.

On July 27 (“Jordan’s king demands Israel put guard on trial for killing Jordanians“) as well Reuters attributed the information only to Israel, ignoring the Jordanian confirmation that Jawawdeh attacked the Israel:

Israel said the guard had been defending himself after Jawawdah attacked him with a screwdriver in a “terrorist attack”.

CAMERA contacted Reuters about the failure to note that a Jordanian investigation found that the Jordanian worker attacked the Israel embassy guard, but the wire service stands by its reporting and continues to churn out the skewed account.

In contrast, the Associated Press has explicitly reported that Jordanian authorities confirmed that Jawawdeh attacked the Israeli:

Jordanian authorities have said the guard opened fire Sunday after a 16-year-old attacked him with a screw driver during a furniture delivery to the embassy.

See also: How Reuters Twists a Fistfight That Never Was