Let’s take a quick look at the AP News Values and Principles, as stated on their website.
That means we abhor inaccuracies, carelessness, bias or distortions.
Now let’s take a look at the story the AP sent over the wires this weekend, on the Turkish Prime Minister’s speech about the Mavi Marmara incident.
Turkey’s prime minister on Saturday ruled out a normalization of ties with Israel unless the Jewish state “officially apologizes” for its deadly raid on a Gaza-bound flotilla last year.
Recep Tayyip Erdogan said relations cannot be improved unless Israel also pays compensation to the families of nine Turkish victims and lifts its embargo on Gaza. Israeli officials were not immediately available for comment
Nice excuse. So instead of, say, writing the history of the incident accurately, and pointing out that Israel’s Turkel Commission found that the IDF had acted legitimately, and that the UN itself is releasing a report that is said to blame the “activists” on the IHH (and Turkey itself) for the incident, instead, we get nothing but the Turkish side of events, and the incendiary language of the currentl Israel-hater-in-chief. Even when the AP pretends to strive for balance, the deck is stacked against the Israeli side of the story.
Israel has insisted its soldiers acted in self-defense after being attacked by activists when they boarded the Turkish ship, Mavi Marmara. But a Turkish investigation revealed that two activists were killed before commandos boarded the ship and another died “execution-style” as he lay injured.
The Turkish investigation was utterly discredited. Not that that matters to the AP writer and editor who put out this story. The above in bold is, quite plainly, a lie put forth by the “activists” on board. And then, because the writer has not slammed Israel nearly enough, he continues for three more paragraphs.
The commando raid sparked condemnation worldwide and led to an easing of Israel’s blockade on the coastal territory. It further damaged already strained relations with Turkey, formerly one of Israel’s closest allies in the region.
Erdogan has also voiced support for the recognition of a Palestinian state and accused Israel of using excessive force against the Palestinians.
The Turkish prime minister also criticized the United Nations and the United States for turning a blind eye to Israel’s “spoiled practices.”
Note that there is not a single Israeli rebuttal of the charges above. Just a vague statement about how Israeli officials couldn’t be reached. As this story went out on a Saturday, one has to wonder: Did the writer deliberately try to contact Israeli ministry offices on the Jewish Sabbath, knowing full well that religious Israel shuts down from mid-Friday to after sundown Saturday?