The AP anti-Israel bias, exhibit 4,678:
First, the AP report on the HRW report on Hamas war crimes:
Rights group: Hamas may have committed war crimes
Next, the AP report on the current HRW accusation that Israely committed war crimes:
Rights group: Israel killed unarmed Palestinians
No, no bias there. Let us check the leads.
A prominent human rights group said there is “strong evidence” that Gaza’s Hamas rulers committed war crimes by allowing militants to fire rockets from the territory that killed civilians in Israel, according to a report released Thursday.
The 31-page report by the New York-based Human Rights Watch focuses on Hamas’ actions in connection with Israel’s three-week offensive in Gaza that ended in late January. Human Rights Watch, as well as other groups, have previously accused Israel of committing war crimes during the offensive aimed at stopping Palestinian rocket fire.
“Hamas rocket attacks targeting Israeli civilians are unlawful and unjustifiable, and amount to war crimes,” said Iain Levine of Human Rights Watch. But the report stopped short of accusing Hamas militants of war crimes, with officials saying only a court could make that determination.
Note that in the article about Hamas war crimes, the AP writers and editors put accusations of Israeli war crimes in the second paragraph. And note the quote that says even though Hamas sent rockets into civilian areas, HRW isn’t really saying they’re war crimes because, well, an actually court hasn’t stated them as such. Will there be such even-handedness regarding Israel?
A new report by Human Rights Watch charged Thursday that Israeli soldiers killed eleven unarmed Palestinian civilians who were carrying white flags in Shooting incidents during Israel’s offensive in Gaza earlier this year.
The report says the civilians included five women and four children. The group urged Israel to conduct investigations into the deaths, which it said occurred when the civilians were “in plain view and posed no apparent security threat.”
The group says at least three witnesses confirmed the details in each of the seven separate shootings.
The report is the latest in a slew of charges from human rights groups alleging that Israel violated the rules of war in its Gaza offensive. The reports on the Gaza war have focused on Israeli violations, but Human Rights Watch has also said Hamas and other Palestinian militant groups violated the rules of war by firing thousands of rockets at Israeli civilians.
Look at the two bolded sections of each lead, and figure out which one is the more damning. Here’s a hint: It ain’t the one about how Hamas “violated the rules of war.” Funny how they use the phrase “war crimes” so easily when applied to Israel, and yet can’t seem to muster the same phrase when applied to terrorists using human shields, children in combat, and based themselves in hospitals to protect themselves.
What time is it again? Of course. It’s Israeli Double Standard Time, which, luckily, only occurs on days that end with a “y.”