When a palestinian terrorist is killed by Israel, the headline generally reads “IDF Kills Palestinian Militant” or “Militant Killed by IDF.” When they kill each other, the AP writes that the “militant” simply “dies.”
Hamas Commander Dies in Gaza Shootout
A Hamas military commander was killed Tuesday in a shootout with Fatah gunmen shortly before the leaders of the two groups met to try to bridge their differences over a power-sharing deal.At least seven people were wounded in the gun battle in Gaza City.
Imagine, if you will, that the IDF killed one and wounded seven. The headline would be: “IDF Kills Militant, Wounds Seven.” And yet, look again at that headline.
Now let’s go over to Reuters, which uses the active voice in the headline.
Hamas gunman killed as unity talks snag
Interesting how the gunfight and murder of a Hamas terrorists by Fatah terrorists is considered a “snag.” I would hate to see what they’d consider a “difficulty.”
Hamas vowed to avenge the killing of a leader in its armed wing on Tuesday in Gaza in renewed violence that erupted as talks over a Palestinian unity government bogged down in disagreement over a cabinet post.
A Fatah official denied any responsibility for the killing of Ala al-Haddad, Gaza City commander of Hamas’s armed wing, the Izz el-Deen al-Qassam Brigades, and called it the result of a clan feud.
Two other people were wounded in the incident, both of them members of a Hamas-led police force.
And you have to love the irony in the following quote:
A Qassam spokesman said gunmen from the Fatah-dominated Preventive Security Service had opened fire at their commander’s car, killing him.
“This is a dangerous and criminal action,” spokesman Abu Ubaida said. “We will not stand silent while Palestinian blood is being shed. The Qassam Brigades will punish those killers.”
In order to stop palestinian blood from flowing, they’re going to kill more palestinians. They never truly know how stupid they sound.
But here, watch how Reuters downplays the warfare that has killed nearly 100 palestinians, many of them civilians:
A Fatah official denied any security men affiliated to it were responsible. “The Preventive Security Services and its men were not involved at all in the tragic incident in Gaza,” the official said.
More than 90 Palestinians were killed in factional violence which was largely calmed by a deal reached in Saudi Arabia last month in which Fatah and Hamas agreed to a power-sharing deal.
Notice how the number of civilians is not included in these statistics, yet the number of civilians, and the phrase “including XX children” is always used when describing palestinians killed by Israelis. And of course, it’s “factional violence”—not, say, warfare.
The AP story carries a higher death count total, but still no word on all the civilian deaths.
Deadly violence between the two factions has flared occasionally since they reached a power-sharing deal last month. The accord brokered in Saudi Arabia was meant to halt months of fighting in which more than 130 people were killed. But tensions have remained high.
Gee, at least they used the adjective “deadly” before “violence” to describe all those deaths.
This concludes our latest lesson in media bias, where palestinians simply cannot do wrong, and Israelis cannot do right (but is always mentioned in every story regarding palestinians, no matter what).