You know, I’m starting to see a pattern here.

In this unbylined article about the Palestinian Prime Minister’s reaction to Israel’s raid on Hamas in the West Bank, you get this headline:

Palestinian premier criticizes Israeli raids

It’s not a bad headline at all. It’s descriptive, gets the point across quickly, and uses the right words. But then we get the update, which now carries a byline:

Palestinian PM derides Israeli raids in West Bank

So what’s the difference between “criticize” and “deride”?

A lot. A whole lot.

Criticize:

1 : to consider the merits and demerits of and judge accordingly : evaluate
2 : to find fault with : point out the faults of

Deride:

1 : to laugh at contemptuously
2 : to subject to usually bitter or contemptuous ridicule

“Derides” isn’t nearly the correct word for this headline. It is so far off that it reeks of anti-Israel media bias. Not that I’m very surprised. Why is it that the spin always seems to go more negative when our Arab and Muslim pals have the rewrite duties?

And why is it that the AP editors in charge of okaying these headlines don’t think the word “derides” is the wrong word for this headline?

Sorry. Rhetorical question. I couldn’t help but deride the AP over this.

See if you can figure out what AP’s moral equivalency problem is.

An Israel-Hamas truce has boiled down to a simple tradeoff: For a day of calm, Israel adds five truckloads of cows and 200 tons of cement to its shipment of the barest basics to Gaza, but also punishes sporadic rocket fire by resealing the territory for a day.

[...] On Tuesday, each side blamed the other for lack of progress.

Hamas has not reined in all militants, particularly those from rival groups, and the Israeli army says 15 rockets and mortars have been fired since the truce took effect June 19, including a mortar shell Tuesday. Lt. Peter Lerner, an Israeli military spokesman, said Hamas’ failure is slowing a broader opening of the crossings.

Hamas says Israel closed border crossings for seven of 17 days of post-truce operations. “The calm is not shaky. The Israeli commitment to the calm is shaky,” said Said Siyam, a senior Hamas official, before heading to Cairo for more truce talks with Egyptian officials.

And despite some attempts to defuse tensions, both sides have stuck to pre-truce behavior.

In Gaza, an explosion went off Tuesday in a Hamas military training camp, an apparent “work accident” that killed two militants and appeared to confirm Israeli fears that the group is using a lull to rearm. In the West Bank city of Nablus, Israel ordered an entire shopping mall shut down by August as an alleged Hamas front.

Have you got the gist of it yet? Because I’ll put it in plain English. According to the AP, Israel is not fulfilling the truce by trying to shut down Hamas terror supporters in the West Bank, which is not part of the truce agreement. Meantime, Hamas is not fulfilling the truce by allowing “sporadic” rocket fire from Gaza into Israel. And notice the subtleties in this article (which is by our pal Ibrahim Barzak, with a joint byline from Karin Laub). Notice that several Palestinians are named and quoted directly. Israel is quoted as “the Israeli army says,” even when there is a named spokesman in the same paragraph. And in that paragraph, the named spokesman is not directly quoted. He is paraphrased, once again showing how the media dehumanize Israel at every turn. There are no quotes from, say, someone living in one of the Israeli areas that are still under rocket and mortar fire. But there is a quote from a Palestinian truck driver, a “senior Hamas official,” and the head of the Gaza Contractors Association. Because the narrative is always about the poor, poor, pitiful Pals. And the AP takes one of the more important quotes and buries it in the very last paragraph, usually the first one that newspapers cut when they need space:

Abu Shanab, the Gaza trucker who earns just $30 dollars for a day’s work at Sufa, said the militants need to start thinking about ordinary Gazans.

“We ask them to take into consideration that we live in a very bad situation,” said the father of eight. “If they fire one rocket, it means we go backwards.”

Funny how those quotes never make it into the lead.

And one more funny: Here’s a howler the AP editorial staff missed.

Later, an Israeli soldier captured by Gaza militants two years ago is to be freed in a prisoner swamp under the deal.

Actually, I like the idea of a prisoner swamp for terrorists. Filled with alligators, please.

Those moderate voices from Iran continue to reverberate throughout the world:

Iranian calls for the destruction of Israel are almost routine these days. But for a former official of the Islamic Republic to call for the destruction of the Jewish state in the city where the Holocaust was planned adds a repugnant twist – especially as the German government sponsored the event that gave the man from Tehran a Western stage.

At a conference on the Mideast in Berlin on Wednesday, Muhammad Javad Ardashir Larijani said the “Zionist project,” which has “created only violence and atrocities,” should be “canceled.” Mr. Larijani, a former deputy foreign minister, is the brother of Iran’s former nuclear negotiator and current parliamentary speaker, Ali Larijani.

And it would appear that their words speak to their intent:

I believed then, as I do now, that the mullahs would never abandon their ambitions, and that after 29 years of negotiations by Europe and world powers, the world has yet to understand that the mullahs will not change direction or behavior. In the early ’90s, the senior Bush administration and the CIA finally realized they were being duped — the mullahs’ promises never materialized. The CIA asked me to look for an Iranian who could testify that Iran was in the process of making a nuclear bomb. That request was later withdrawn.

Iran remains the main sponsor of terrorism around the world. Iranian consulates, embassies, airlines, and shipping line offices are the main hub for terrorist activities. Money, arms, and explosives are transferred through these centers to fund terrorist groups and jihadists. Quds Force units of the Revolutionary Guards use the Iranian consulates as their command and control centers to plan and carry out assassinations, kidnappings, and terrorist activities. The mullahs even transferred money and arms in state visits using their high-ranking officials, knowing full well that because of diplomatic immunity they would not be subject to search during such visits. As I reported to the CIA, these activities were closely coordinated through Iran’s foreign ministry, the ministry of intelligence, and the Revolutionary Guards.

Crossposted on Soccer Dad.