Your unbiased, objective AP take on Hamas terrorism

The AP, which claims it is unbiased, objective, and simply reporting the facts, has a very interesting take on the mortar attack that murdered a 48-year-old Israeli civilian, and the IDF response. First, the unbiased headline:

Attack from Gaza kills 1, Israeli retaliation kills 5

Now the unbiased lede from yesterday’s article:

KFAR AZA, Israel (AP) – Gaza attackers sent mortar shells crashing into a border community late Friday, killing an Israeli in his garden and wounding three others, officials said. Israel retaliated with missile strikes that left five Hamas militants dead.

The surge in violence added pressure on Egyptian-led attempts to halt clashes between Gaza militants and the Israeli military.

Gaza’s ruling Hamas movement claimed responsibility for the deadly mortar fire on Kfar Aza, a communal farm in southern Israel.

Hours later, Israeli aircraft fired missiles that slammed into two Hamas police stations in southern Gaza, killing five militants, Hamas and Gaza health officials said. The Israeli military confirmed the airstrike and said it was responding to attacks on Israel, including the deadly mortar fire on Kfar Aza.

That was, as I said, yesterday’s unbiased article. Now let’s look at the updates today. First, the unbiased headline:

Hamas Militants Fire Rockets Into Israel; No One Injured

Isn’t that nice. The AP is finally noticing that Hamas fires rockets on a daily or near-daily basis. (It’s been daily this week. There has been no “lull.”) But pay attention to the headline, because it goes with the unbiased lede:

Hamas fired rockets at southern Israel on Saturday, hitting a house and a Jewish seminary just hours after five Hamas policemen were killed in Israeli air strikes.No one was hurt in the strikes.

Hamas militants said they fired 15 homemade rockets at Israel. The Israeli military said five of them landed, one directly hitting a house in the border town of Sderot, a frequent target for militants. Another landed next to a Jewish seminary and another in the courtyard of a local college.

Nobody was hurt in the barrage, which came after Israel fired missiles at two Hamas police stations late Friday, killing five militants.

For some reason, the context of the Israeli response to a terror attack—the mortar bombardment of her civilians—is no longer evident in the unbiased AP lede. Not if you’re one of the local newspapers that publishes only the first three paragraphs of the wire stories in your “WORLD NEWS” section. Here’s the fourth graf:

The newest round of cross-border attacks began earlier Friday when Hamas militants fired mortar shells that killed a 48-year-old Israeli man in a communal farm on the border with Gaza. Three others were wounded.

By the way, here’s an interesting item from yesterday’s story that I’ve never seen before in an AP article, regarding the identity of Jimmy Kdoshim, the man killed while working in his garden:

Dozens of residents milled around the tidy lawn where the 48-year-old Israeli’s body lay. Shrapnel pocked the front of his house. His identity was not disclosed because one of his four children had not yet been notified of his death.

Why—does this mean the AP is going to actually humanize an Israeli victim of Hamas terror? Are we going to get his name, his age, and quotes from his family tomorrow?

No. Look above, at the quoted fourth graf. Jimmy Kdoshim has no name in the AP, even though the story was written long after his name was released. Israeli victims of Palestinian terror almost never are named in either the main story, or subsequent updates. But Palestinian victims are nearly always named, aged, and have quotes from family members added to the story.

In the meantime, 18 rockets and five mortars have fallen on Israel so far today, and the AP can’t muster up an article that deals solely with the barrage. One just missed a synagogue. Another hit a house. But of course, Israeli will be blamed for the “cycle of violence” in the media.

And the world tut-tuts and thinks that it’s perfectly natural for Hamas to fire rockets at civilians in “retaliation” for Israel killing Hamas terrorists—who are firing rockets at civilians.

Welcome to Israeli Double Standard Time.