The media spin on the war in Gaza

Things are heating up in Gaza. And the media spin is getting more noticeable. The AP simply downplays the killing:

Hamas, Fatah Exchange Fire in Gaza
Gunmen exchanged fire near Gaza City’s Islamic University on Saturday, killing two men on the third straight day of Hamas-Fatah factional fighting.

The deaths brought to 19 the number of Palestinians killed since late Thursday, and a least 66 people were wounded. The rival Hamas and Fatah movements traded angry accusations, and each held several supporters of the other side hostage.

By the way, one of those 19 dead was a two-year-old boy.

In one incident, a 2-year-old boy was fatally shot while traveling in a car in the southern town of Khan Younis, hospital officials said. Hamas and Fatah officials accused each other of firing the deadly shot.

Funny how that kind of statistic stays in the lede of every story when it’s the result of IDF fire, but disappears almost immediately when the child is murdered by terrorists fighting each other. Also not used, the phrase “most of them civilians” after the number of wounded.

Reuters manages to win the biased headline of the week award with this one, and then the jaw-dropper of the week by a story that is utterly slanted towards Hamas:

Gaza factions battle near Islamic university

You’ve got to hand it to Reuters for their brazen apologism. Two terrorist groups are called “factions.” In fact, the pro-Hamas bias in this article is astonishing.

Rival Palestinian forces clashed in the Gaza Strip on Saturday near the pro-Hamas Islamic University, injuring three in some of the fiercest infighting since Hamas’s election victory a year ago.

A member of the Hamas-led police force died of his wounds overnight, hospital officials said, bringing the death toll from Friday’s factional fighting to 16, the highest in a single day.

Hamas spokesman Ayman Taha vowed that the group would avenge those killed in the fighting, including local Hamas leader Zuhair al-Mansi, and accused Fatah of mounting a plot, with U.S. backing, to overthrow the Hamas-led government.

He said unity government talks between President Mahmoud Abbas’s Fatah faction and Hamas were on hold.

“As long as the leaders of the coup within Fatah are continuing the killings, there can be no dialogue,” Taha said.

Fatah blamed Hamas for starting the latest round of fighting.

Three paragraphs of quotes from Hamas blaming Fatah, and only one line, without a named spokesman, defending Fatah. That’s exactly what they do with Israel. But wait: It gets worse.

At least 46 Palestinians have been killed in fighting between Hamas and Fatah since Abbas called last month for new presidential and parliamentary elections, Palestinian hospital officials said.

[…] Overnight, Hamas mounted a raid on the Gaza headquarters of the so-called Preventive Security service, a force dominated by Fatah members. Hamas pounded the compound with mortars and rocket-propelled grenades but no injuries were reported.

Note the cause of the fighting: Abbas calling for new elections. Note also the use of “so-called” to describe a Fatah-dominated police force. The words used to describe the Hamas police force? “Hamas-led police force.”

I never thought I’d see the day when Reuters is giving Fatah the same treatment they give Israel. But there you have it: Reuters, by slanting this article so incredibly towards Hamas, is promoting the view of Hamas terrorists.

And you thought the mainstream media couldn’t get any worse.