Two more balanced AP pieces on Israel? Seriously?

Seriously. Though it comes at the very end of this article on the mysterious case of the arrest of an Israeli who was photographing Jewish sites in Libya, it still tells the truth about why a Jew from another country had to take photos of the former Jewish sections of Tripoli.

Libya, like many other Arab countries, was home to a large Jewish community until the middle of the 20th century, when Jews fled mob violence and state persecution linked to the Arab-Israeli conflict.

Of course, that information really belonged right here, in the middle of the story with this paragraph:

Israeli officials said the efforts to free him involved Italy, which has close ties to Libya and is home to a Libyan Jewish exile community, as well as France, the U.S. and Tunisia.

But we’ll take whatever crumbs we can get.

Further balance in the lead of the latest Gaza flotilla article:

The Israeli commission is looking into the government’s decision-making leading up to the decision to send naval commandos to board the ship on May 31 and steer it to an Israeli port. The United Nations has also announced its own inquiry.

The commandos met with violent resistance on board the Mavi Marmara and opened fire, killing nine Turkish activists, including one with U.S. citizenship. The bloodshed drew an international outcry that eventually forced Israel to ease its blockade of the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip. Both the pro-Palestinian activists on board the vessel and the Israeli soldiers have accused each other of provoking the violence.

Too bad the AP can’t do an investigative article on the IHH “activists”. Now that would be real balance. But still—this is better than I’ve seen in quite some time. Three fairly balanced pieces in the last few days. This is a very good thing.