A Palestinian murderer killed three Israelis in a car-ramming attack, including two children, yet the Associated Press’ coverage focuses on the perspective of pro-Palestinian sources.
By United with Israel Staff
This week, a Palestinian terrorist named Hussein Qaraqa murdered three innocent Israeli civilians. The victims were two brothers, Asher Menachem and Yaakov Yisrael Paley, and 20-year-old Asher Shlomo Lederman. Qaraqa smashed his car into a crowd of people at a bus stop in Jerusalem a few hours before the Sabbath.
Six-year-old Yaakov Yisrael died on Friday, and his 8-year-old brother Asher Menachem succumbed on Sunday to the injuries Qaraqa inflicted on him.
Despite the sheer heinousness of Qaraqa’s crime, the Associated Press (AP) discussed Asher Menchem’s death in a piece that focused on a Saturday shooting in Samaria amid a dispute between residents of the Jewish town of Chavot Yair and their Arab neighbors.
The AP‘s headline revealed the direction the coverage takes: “Palestinian man, Israeli child die as bloodshed rises.”
The AP describes Qaraqa murdering children in the passive voice, portraying the killings as something that happened to the victims, not something Qaraqa did.
Specifically, the AP states: “Asher Menahem Paley, 8, died a day after a Palestinain man rammed a car into a bus stop in an Israeli settlement in the eastern half of the contested capital, which Israel captured in the 1967 Mideast war.”
First, Qaraqa didn’t ram his car into a bus stop. He rammed into a crowd of Jewish Israelis, a common tactic used by Palestinian terrorists trying to kill Israeli Jews.
Second, the neighborhood (Ramot) where Qaraqa murdered three Israelis is not a “settlement.” It is an area within Jerusalem that is fully under Israeli control and is home to a thriving Jewish community, including synagogues, schools, high-end restaurants, and shopping centers.
Third, the AP refuses to say from whom Israel “captured” the area “in the 1967 Mideast war.” It was Jordan, not any entity calling itself “Palestine.” Israel “captured” Jerusalem, the Jewish people’s eternal capital, from Arab occupiers: the Jordanians.
“His 6-year-old brother was killed in the car-ramming, along with a man in his 20s,” continues the AP.
“Was killed”? Who killed this 6-year-old child, AP? Palestinian murderer Hussein Qaraqa. That’s who.
The AP then proceeds to portray Qaraqa as a mentally troubled victim of Israeli violence from the “gritty east Jerusalem neighborhood of Issawiya,” devoting three paragraphs to sympathetic coverage of the murderer based on statements from his family.
The AP story also begins with a description of the death of a Palestinian man in Samaria following a dispute between residents of Chavot Yair and a nearby Arab town. The AP provides only the perspective of Palestinians, including “Ghassan Douglas, a Palestinian official who monitors Israeli settlements in the Nablus region.”
The AP then regurgitates Douglas’ claim of an “intense wave of settler violence in recent days,” adding with no verification his account of the dispute.
Notice the difference in the AP’s language in describing the two deaths: “an Israeli settler opened fire, killing a 27-year-old villager” versus “Asher Menahem Paley, 8, died a day after a Palestinian man rammed a car into a bus stop in an Israeli settlement in the eastern half of the contested capital.”
According to the AP, an “Israeli settler” killed, while a Palestinian man merely “rammed a car into a bus stop in an Israeli settlement.”
The AP printed this after Palestinians murdered seven Israelis on the Sabbath two weeks ago.
Did the AP try to speak to anyone from Chavot Yair? Its residents are portrayed by Douglas as “settlers” who “streamed into the [Arab] village and stole several sheep from a farmer… attack[ing] and wound[ing] Palestinians who tried to defend the farmer.”
In reality, Chavot Yair is an Israeli town that is 25 minutes from Tel Aviv. Its residents include a prominent real estate lawyer and other professionals. In addition to around 30 private homes, at least one of which has a swimming pool, the town has a beautiful synagogue and community center, providing the core of this growing Torah-observant community.
Would the AP ever portray this reality?
Instead, the AP delivers coverage that focuses almost exclusively on Palestinians’ version of events. The AP uses the passive voice to describe a Palestinian murderer’s killing of innocent children. And worst of all, the AP portrays a Palestinian murderer as the victim of Israeli violence and mental issues.
In addition to AP‘s skewed coverage, a CNN headline said: “Two dead including child as car rams people at Jerusalem bus stop.”
“This wasn’t a self driving car @CNN,” Israel’s Foreign Ministry tweeted in response on Twitter. “The driver a Palestinian terrorist *intentionally* rammed into a bus stop packed with children and families traveling before Shabbat.”