By Stephen M. Flatow/JNS.org – JNS (Jewish News Service) 29-3-2017
A group of Palestinians
tried to burn some Israeli Jews to death March 23. Just another day in the
Middle East.
The four attackers drove
up to the perimeter of the Jewish community of Beit El, north of Jerusalem, and
began hurling firebombs toward homes there. A firebomb, also known as a Molotov
cocktail, is of course a deadly weapon. It explodes on impact and unleashes a
torrent of flames. We can all easily imagine what would happen if those
firebombs had struck people or homes.
Fortunately, Israeli
soldiers immediately fired at the would-be murderers, killing one and wounding
three others. That should be the end of the story. But it won’t be. Here’s why.
To begin with, one of
the terrorists was 17 years old. That means “human rights” groups will add him
to their list of “Palestinian children killed by Israelis.” Even if a killer is
just one day shy of his 18th birthday, that’s good enough to define him as a
“child” in the eyes of those who want to smear Israel.
The fact that a
Palestinian died, while no Israelis were burned to death as he had intended,
meant that many news outlets portrayed the attacker as the victim. This is in
accordance with the theory that whoever dies must be the victim and whoever
killed him must be the aggressor. (Good thing the media didn’t use that
measuring stick during World War II!)
Consider, for example,
the story as presented by AFP, a major supplier of international news. Here’s
how it began: “Israeli troops shot dead a Palestinian teenager Thursday in the
occupied West Bank and seriously wounded three other Palestinians, the
Palestinian health ministry said in a statement.”
Since a significant
number of readers don’' get past the first paragraph of a news article, the
opening sentence is crucial. And the opening sentence here strongly suggests
that the Israelis killed a Palestinian teenager, and injured three others, for
no reason.
And here’s how the AFP
story explained the broader context: “A wave of violence that broke out in
October 2015 has claimed the lives of 257 Palestinians, 40 Israelis, two
Americans, one Jordanian, an Eritrean, and a Sudanese national, according to an
AFP count.” Notice how the violence just “broke out,” like a mysterious illness
with no obvious culprit.
Here’s something else
that few in the mainstream media will report: the Palestinian Authority’s (PA)
immediate endorsement of the terrorists who tried to burn Jews alive.
According to the
Palestinian news agency Ma’an, the governor of de facto PA capital Ramallah,
Laila Ghanam, called the dead terrorist “a martyr.” She also tried to spread
some fake news, declaring that the gang of four “had been driving peacefully”
when cruel Israelis attacked them. “This is another crime,” the PA governor
proclaimed. She also said “we wish a quick recovery” to the three wounded
terrorists, presumably so they can resume trying to set Jews on fire.
You won’t read Ghanam’s
remarks in The Washington Post or hear them quoted on CNN. That would remind
the American public that Palestinian leaders support burning Jews to death, and
publicly lie to cover for the would-be killers. And that would undermine the
campaign to give the firebomb-throwers a sovereign state in Israel’s backyard.
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