It’s been a long time since I did one of these posts, but the AP does not change its spots. This is one of the many subtle ways the world media in general–and the AP in particular–discredits the Israeli side of the story. In an article about retaliation for the murder of a civilian working on the Gaza fence, buried deeply, we find this:
Israel recently discovered a pair of smuggling tunnels leading from Gaza into Israel that it said were built by militant groups planning to stage attacks.
The tunnel they are talking about was built with hundreds of tons of cement, proving that Israel was right to refuse to allow building materials freely across the Gaza borders–one of the things the world slams Israel for. But note the words in bold. Israel “said” the tunnels were built by terrorists. Yes, they did. And then the wire services ran this story:
Hamas Islamists in the Gaza Strip claimed responsibility on Sunday for a tunnel that Israel said was found beneath the heavily fortified Israel-Gaza frontier.
A website for a Hamas radio station called Al-Aqsa said the group’s armed wing was responsible for what it called the “Khan Younis Tunnel,” named for a part of the coastal territory where the subterranean passage was found.
Hamas declared ownership of the tunnel. The AP seems to have ignored that, but Reuters didn’t. Note that the AP almost never runs negative articles on Palestinian terror groups. They’ve been whitewashing them for decades. Witness:
Israel and Hamas are bitter enemies, but both sides largely have observed a cease-fire that ended eight days of heavy fighting in November 2012. The cease-fire has been tested by periodic rocket and mortar attacks out of Gaza. Salafist extremists have been behind most of the violence, but Israel holds Hamas responsible for any attacks out of the territory.
Observing a cease-fire by Hamas includes firing rockets and mortars. Blaming Salafis for the “violence”, but making Israel look like the bad guy for blaming Hamas instead of the Salafis. Whitewash, whitewash, whitewash–they should change their name to Associated Whitewashing Press. AWP would be the sound Israel makes every time it reads an AP report about Israel. Not me, though. I expect nothing less from the AP.