The AP whitewashes terror again

Once more, the AP has changed the headline of a story to make palestinian terrorists look less evil than they truly are.

The headline through most of today: Palestinian Bomber Kills Israeli Soldier

The headline on the article now: Israeli Soldier, Two Palestinians Killed

The difference between the two articles? Five or so hours. (Actually, three–the last time I checked the update at 10:52 still had the same headline.)

Notice that the headline deliberately removes the suicide bombing context, and makes you think instead there was a conflict resulting in the deaths of one Israeli and two palestinians. This is not an unintentional effect.

And, in a move that makes me think someone from the AP is reading my blog, the AP has finally named the Israeli soldier who was murdered. Of course, there is still more information on the bomber than on the Israeli soldier, but at least Lt. Binamo has been named.

The army said the bomber, an accomplice and the taxi driver were killed, along with a 21-year-old Israeli army officer, Lt. Uri Binamo. Seven Palestinians and three soldiers were wounded.

Palestinians identified the attacker as Ala a-Sadi, a 23-year-old Palestinian police officer from the northern West Bank town of Jenin whose family had links to Islamic Jihad. There was pandemonium at the family home, where relatives were trying to call a-Sadi on his cell phone with no success. No militant group released the name of the bomber, as has been the practice in the past.

Notice how you have the name, age, home, and family reaction to the terrorist’s death, but only the name and age of the murdered soldier. Yet another subtle distinction that most people miss. And hey, Abu Mazen, great work on co-opting the terrorists by bringing them into the PA security services. It’s really working, isn’t it?

Not.

Now let’s look at some more of the differences in the article. The first paragraph from the early version:

TULKAREM, West Bank (AP) – A Palestinian suicide bomber trying to enter Israel blew himself up Thursday at a military checkpoint in the West Bank set up to foil the attack, killing an Israeli soldier and two other Palestinians.

The first paragraph in the updated version:

TULKAREM, West Bank (AP) – A Palestinian suicide bomber blew himself up Thursday, killing an Israeli army officer and two other Palestinians after Israeli soldiers ordered him to remove his overcoat at a West Bank checkpoint set up specifically to foil the attack.

Whoops, guess that “trying to enter Israel” phrase was too high-risk. Might make people think the guy was out to murder civilians or something.

And so, we have yet another example of how the AP downplays terrorism. And yet another example of the AP’s media bias against Israel. This is classic AP-speak:

Palestinian official Saeb Erekat condemned the bombing and called on all groups to honor the cease-fire. “The Palestinian Authority is committed to the cessation of violence,” he said.

Where is the condemnation in that paragraph? There is none. The AP never manages to come up with a direct quote that condemns the suicide bombing, because the PA never condemns it. But the AP–and other media outlets–keep on passing along the lie.

I’ll keep on passing along the truth.

Previous posts on the AP habit of making stories more anti-Israel and pro-palestinian as they update through the day are here and here.

Update: They’ve changed the headline again, to finally use the phrase “suicide bombing.”

West Bank Suicide Bombing Leaves 4 Dead

About friggin’ time.