The AP has two ways of describing situations: One way when Israelis are involved, and another way for everyone else. Witness:
Crowd harasses UN investigators in Beirut
Oh, so a crowd yelled slogans or something at UN investigators? Maybe they booed them? Not quite.
Dr. Iman Sharara, who runs the clinic, said two men – an Australian and a French national – showed up with a Lebanese interpreter for an appointment to go through some phone records.
When she went outside to speak to her secretary, she saw a large group of women force their way into the clinic, screaming and trampling on documents belonging to the clinic.
“It looked like a real battle,” she told reporters. “The investigators fled. The interpreter, they pulled her hair, they snatched things from them … I returned to my clinic, hid inside and called my husband.”
[…] A police official said more than 30 women stormed the building, with another 75 or so remaining outside. He added, on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to give official statements, that the crowd shouted curses at the tribunal and one protester stole an investigator’s briefcase.
Wow. That’s quite a mob scene. Perhaps we should take a look at the AP’s take on a march by Israeli Jews through an Arab town.
Police, protesters clash in Arab Israeli town
What? The Israeli Jews clashed with the police? That’s terrible!
Dozens of Jewish extremists hoisting Israeli flags defiantly marched through this Arab-Israeli town Wednesday, chanting “death to terrorists” and touching off clashes between rock-hurling residents and police who quelled them with tear gas.
Wait, what? The Jews threw rocks?
Hundreds of police deployed in the town after Israel’s Supreme Court authorized the march, which took place on the outskirts of town. Some 350 Arab residents gathered in anticipation of the rally, and youths threw rocks at police, who dispersed the crowd with tear gas and stun grenades.
Oh. The Arabs threw the rocks at the police. So it was a riot. An Arab riot. All the Jews did was march and chant “Death to terrorists.” No wonder the Arab “youths” threw rocks at the police. So effectively, if we’re talking about a riot, it sure seems like both stories have what it takes for a headline including the word “clash,” and yet—the Lebanese women “harassed” the UN investigators. You know, by pulling hair, mobbing them, stealing a briefcase—all typically harassing behavior.
The AP: You can always count on them for pure, unbiased reporting.
I see. Chanting “Death to Jews” and such is just politics, nothing to be alarmed about, free speech and all that. Chanting not “Death to Arabs” but “Death to terrorists” is, however, a provocation and rock-throwing and rioting is just a natural response.