The AP did pick up on the kassam rocket landing in a Sderot schoolroom. Here’s what they had to say about it:
JERUSALEM (AP) – A Palestinian rocket hit on Sunday a school in the southern Israeli town of Sderot, hitting an empty classroom but causing no injuries, the army said.
School had just begun but children were holding morning prayers in a separate room when the rocket came through the roof of the classroom, school officials told Army Radio.
Palestinian militants fired a total of five rockets early Sunday toward Israel, but no other damage was caused, the army said. One of the rockets landed in a Palestinian area, the army said.
The army responded with artillery fire toward launching areas in the northern Gaza Strip, the army and witnesses said.
Palestinian medics said that one Palestinian was moderately injured from the artillery. The army said troops were not firing at the time the man was hit.
Palestinian militants frequently fire rockets toward Israel but they rarely cause casualties. Israel has in recent months increased artillery fire in response to the rocket launchings.
You see, the rockets rarely cause casualties. Always the stead minimalization of palestinian attacks on Israelis, while maximizing any offensive actions from Israel. And as per standard AP practice, you cannot possibly have an article that discusses palestinian attacks on Israel without also adding Israeli attacks on palestinians — even if untrue.
In the West Bank city of Nablus, Palestinian medics said a Palestinian woman was killed during an Israeli army raid before dawn Sunday.
Palestinian militants with the Al Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades accused Israeli troops of firing at the woman as she looked out of her window. The Israeli army said its troops were fired at by Palestinian militants but did not return fire.
They quote the terrorists first, of course. Because no way in hell terrorists would have any reason to lie about who killed the woman, right?
The troops were conducting an arrest raid but withdrew without detaining anyone, the army said.
The army conducts almost nightly raids in Nablus, which often result in exchanges of fire.
Here’s a perfect example of the AP’s lack of context. Why is it that those nightly raids “often result in exchanges of fire”? That would be because palestinians who are being arrested by the IDF start shooting at them, more now than they have ever done before, and often throw in a few grenades, molotov cocktails, or other offensive weapons. But to the AP, it isn’t necessary to provide any kind of context. No, it’s enough that Israel is shooting at the terrorists.
On top of everything else, this is just atrociously written–almost like it was translated from a foreign language. After that opening graph–“hit” and “hitting” in the same sentence–I all but zoned out. Turns out the AP’s not just guilty of bias and (wilfully?)poor fact-checking; it seems to be an active participant in the culture-wide debasement of the English language.
Hey don’t be so hard on them. Do you know how hard it is to translate from Arabic into idiomatic English?
On that rocket attack, suppose that inaccurate Qassem rocket had hit the room where the schoolchildren were holding prayers? Yeah AP, those Qassem rockets are real innocuous since they rarely hit anybody. By the way, shooting at a school, not to mention deliberately targeting children as the Palis are doing, violates the international law of armed conflict. I expect all the loudmouths who shriek at the USA and Israel about imaginary violations will immediately run out and denounce the Palis for their very real violations. Right? Right? (crickets chirping) Riiiiiight.