Back in 1988, Commentary magazine had a symposium of intellectuals discussing Israel. One of the contributors, Edward Rothstein, observed that when he drove by Judea and Samaria he was amazed by the number of TV antennas shaped like the Eiffel tower, a sign that the Palestinians were not suffering nearly as much as advertised.

More recently (March, 2007) Shiloh Musings photographed quite a few mansions going up in the Palestinian areas north of Jerusalem.

That not all Palestinians live lives of quiet desperation, is a revelation to quite a few people, especially “journalists.” Karin Laub, for one, finds it amazing that Munib Masri has built himself a mansion.

Masri’s villa sits atop Mount Gerizim, considered sacred by the Samaritans, an ancient sect that practices an offshoot of Judaism and whose descendants live nearby.

The mansion is an exact copy of a famous 16th-century villa, known as “La Rotonda,” built by Italian architect Andrea Palladio. It is capped by a rotunda and has temple fronts with columns on four sides.

Construction began in 1998, with most material imported from France in 200 40-foot shipping containers. The work continued after the outbreak of the second Palestinian uprising in 2000, and at the height of fighting, Israeli tanks took up positions on his property for a while, Masri said.

But as Barry Rubin points out, Masri’s wealth wasn’t just the result of hard work. As the article mentions, without elaborating, Masri held a telecommunications monopoly. Rubin explains.

We are not told from whence this monopoly came—from the PA. The word corruption is never mentioned. Such a lack of curiosity about the sources of his wealth does not accord with journalistic practices in covering other stories.

Indeed, the story of the telecommunications monopoly is one of the best-known stories of corruption among Palestinians. How PA and Fatah factions competed over the loot, how Arafat intervened directly into the issue.

(Indeed the best off among the Palestinians have benefited from monopolies, see The Man who Swallowed Gaza and How Important is the PLO. Michael Kelly’s Investing in Yasser Arafat illustrates a similar point.)

Rubin’s point is that Laub shouldn’t be focusing on the contrast between Mr. Masri and other Palestinians, or between his success and the “occupation.” Rather Laub - and other reporters - should be focusing on how Masri obtained his wealth and how that illustrates the failure of the so-called “peace process.” Dr. Rubin includes some points to consider:

–The Palestinian upper economic and political class cares nothing for its own people.
–In its fourteen-year rule of the West Bank, the PA has focused on looting it rather than on raising living standards and providing good government.
–Billions of dollars in international aid donations have disappeared, probably paying for a large portion of Masri’s mansion.
–The PA’s failures are blamed on Israel both by the PA itself, Western governments, and the international media.
–Palestinian suffering is not primarily due to Israel but to their own leaders.
–A lot of Israel’s success has been due to Jews around the world making both investments and donations. Palestinians have not been forthcoming in supporting their own “state,” a point well-known in Palestinian circles. (An exception here, of course, is in backing Hamas’s terrorist campaign in recent years.)
–Anyone who keeps their eyes open will see other huge, albeit less impressive than this one, mansions in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank. Even other members of Masri’s own family have been criticized for their ostentation. While this estate may be the most extreme case, it is hardly an exception in that regard.
–Wealthy Palestinians do not give charity to help their poorer cousins. The PA doesn’t even have a comprehensive tax system. Thus, the international community is left to support the Palestinians, and their oversized security apparatus.
–Violence sponsored by the PA was responsible for destroying the chance for their people to work in Israel, hitherto a major aid to their economy; the destruction of infrastructure; and the hesitation of investors, who are also put off by the PA’s corruption and incompetence.
–Intransigence and the failure to reach a compromise solution stem from the Palestinian leadership, including Masri’s buddy, Arafat.

This isn’t the first time that Barry Rubin has criticized Karin Laub’s tendentious reporting. It unfortunately likely won’t be the last either.

Daled Amos has commented on a related issue, illegal building by Palestinians.

Crossposted on Soccer Dad.

Hamas has resumed full-scale attacks on Israel, complete with wounded Israelis in Sderot, and the headline to the AP story is this:

Gaza violence continues with airstrike, rockets

Notice the order of events in the headline. Airstrikes come first, even though they are in response to the rocketing of Israeli cities. But according to the AP, the rockets are in “response” to the airstrikes.

Palestinian militants attacked a major city in southern Israel with rocket fire on Friday, a serious escalation of widening violence that has all but buried a five-month-old truce.

Hamas fighters launched rocket barrages at Ashkelon, 11 miles north of Gaza, causing panic but no casualties. They also unleashed rockets at nearby Sderot, where rescue services said one person was lightly wounded by shrapnel. Several rockets hit open areas.

The Israeli military warned residents of communities near Gaza to remain in their homes, and police and rescue services went on high alert in preparation for more attacks.

Friday’s barrages followed an earlier strike by Israeli aircraft targeting militants firing rockets in northern Gaza. Dr. Moaiya Hassanain of Gaza’s Health Ministry said two gunmen were moderately wounded.

Do you see the deliberate anti-Israel slant of the AP reporting? The barrage was in response to airstrikes, which were carried out because of an earlier rocket barrage—and somehow, the AP manages to place the blame squarely on Israel’s shoulders, once again, for defending herself against terrorists launching rockets at the civilian population. And notice the attempt to play down the damages by the rockets.

And in upside-down world, even the AP is noticing that maybe—just maybe—the truce is over.

Hamas, like Israel, said it wants to continue the truce, but events signaled the opposite is happening.

This is after they already published this in the article:

Hamas claimed responsibility for the rocket fire, and said it fired deep into Israel to demonstrate the price the Jewish state would pay if the truce collapsed.

“The resistance…is able to hit the Zionist depth,” said Hamas lawmaker Mushir al-Masri. “Either there’s full commitment to the truce and all its conditions, or the resistance will have a position on every Zionist crime.”

And what would an AP article be without pointing out that Hamas rocket barrages are mostly harmless, but Israel’s kill Palestinians. The fact that they mostly kill terrorists? Irrelevant.

The Egyptian-mediated truce has largely halted a cycle of Palestinian rocket attacks and deadly Israeli reprisals.

Funny how the actual toll of Palestinian rocket attacks never makes it into the AP articles. Well, no, not really. The AP bias is pretty well known here.

But there’s worse to come. Stay tuned.

Interesting take on today’s attempt by the IDF to stop terrorists from violating the Israeli border and attempting to murder Israelis. From Ynet:

IDF forces thwarted an attempt by a Palestinian terror cell to infiltrate Israel through the Gaza border fence Wednesday noon. The cell, which included four or five members, was apparently planning to place explosive devices in the area.

According to military sources, gunmen approached the fence in an area east of Khan Younis and were about to enter Israeli territory when a paratrooper force identified them and opened fire at them.

Four Palestinians were killed in the clashes and several were injured. One soldier was lightly injured in his hand and was evacuated to Soroka Medical Center in Beersheba.

The force uncovered Kalashnikov rifles and grenades on the gunmen’s bodies.

From the AP:

Israeli troops and Palestinian militants fought with missiles and mortars along the Gaza-Israel border on Wednesday, raising new concerns that an increasingly shaky five-month-old truce might collapse.

Four Hamas militants were killed in the exchange, and the Hamas military wing said it would retaliate.

And the AP’s attempt at balance:

The Israeli military and Palestinian militants gave conflicting versions of how the fighting started.

Israel’s military said it began when Israeli forces spotted armed militants approaching Gaza’s border fence, near the southern Gaza town of Khan Younis. The men were trying to lay an explosive device near the fence, the military said.

An exchange of fire erupted. The militants set off an explosive device and fired three mortars at troops, the military said. Israeli soldiers hit four militants and an Israeli soldier was slightly injured, the army said.

Later, Israeli aircraft fired two missiles at open fields, the army said.

Palestinian militants said the battle began when they spotted Israeli forces crossing into Gaza and fired upon them.

The military would not say whether Israeli forces entered Gaza.

Take a look at the words in bold. The AP claims this was a battle of missiles and mortars. And yet, the IDF did not use missiles in the battle with the terrorist cell. They fired missiles at an empty field (?!). But it’s a battle of “missiles and mortars,” making it sound like the IDF fired missiles at the terrorists, instead of what it actually was: Terrorists firing mortars at troops, a tactic used to great extent by Hezbullah during the 2006 Lebanon war. One IDF soldier was lightly injured on his hand. It seems the IDF has figured out those tactics by now, and thankfully, Hamas is still fighting the last war.

But the media is still the anti-Israel media that we know and hate.

Yesterday, the IDF went a few yards into Gaza to destroy a tunnel that was going to be used to kidnap Israeli soldiers. Hama terrorists are really good at scurrying like rats underground, blowing up roads and parking lots on the Israeli side of the border, and popping up to grab any soldier that they haven’t killed so they can hold him in violation of all Geneva Conventions (because rules are for suckers, unless they’re Hamas rules) and try to use him as a pawn in getting thousands of their terrorists out of Israeli jails.

Hamas fought the IDF. The IDF won. Then Hamas did what Hamas does, and fired rockets at the Israeli civilian population as a “result” of the IDF operation. And the world media, of course, blamed Israel for breaking the truce.

Israel airstrike imperils Gaza truce with Hamas
Israel and Gaza’s Hamas rulers scrambled Wednesday to contain fallout from the worst fighting since a truce was declared five months ago, but a flare-up later in the day threatened to unravel it anew.

Gaza militants pounded southern Israel early Wednesday with dozens of rockets to avenge raids a day earlier that killed six militants, but the guns quickly fell silent with neither side appearing to have much to gain from renewed hostilities.

“We have no intention of violating the quiet,” Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak said on a tour of areas bordering Gaza. “But in any place where we need to thwart an action against Israeli soldiers and civilians, we will act.”

Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum said the group fired deep into Israel to demonstrate the price of continued aggression. At the same time, he said, Hamas had contacted Egyptian mediators to find ways of keeping the truce intact.

But late Wednesday night, Israel launched another airstrike, killing a Palestinian militant in northern Gaza. The army said it was targeting a rocket launcher, whom the Islamic Jihad group identified as its own. The group had fired two rockets at the Israeli border town of Sderot and one of its leaders, Khader Habib, declared the truce over.

Hamas, which agreed to the Egyptian-mediated truce, said Israel was breaching it.

Please note that the the second-to-last paragraph reads as follows:

Sporadic rocket attacks on southern Israel have persisted since the truce, but the attacks were carried out by smaller groups seeking to embarrass Hamas for preserving a truce with the Jewish state.

The AP presents the Hamas line completely, by insisting that Hamas had nothing to do with the rocket attacks, knowing full well that nobody sneezes in Gaza without asking Hamas’ permission. So the Hamas truce violations never “imperil” the truce.

The Guadian actually outright blamed Israel for violating the truce, but I refuse to link to that rag today. It’s too enraging, and, well, the British bias against Israel has been going on since before the modern state of Israel was created. In fact, British Arabists are largely responsible for the problems in the Middle East today. Had they not put the Sauds in place—if they had, for instance, put a moderate Islamic group on the Saudi throne—the world would be a very different place today.

But the media would still hate Israel. It’s a Jewish thing. Let’s be honest.

Who are you going to trust? The AP bias or your lying eyes?

Get a load of this jaw-dropping bias in the lead:

Families in this village near the Iraqi border buried loved ones Monday who they said were killed when the U.S. military launched a rare attack in Syrian territory. During the funerals, angry residents shouted anti-American slogans and carried banners reading: “Down with Bush and the American enemy.”

The Syrian government said four U.S. military helicopters attacked a civilian building under construction shortly before sundown Sunday in Sukkariyeh about five miles inside the Syrian border.

The government statement said eight people were killed, including a man and his four children and a woman. However, local officials said seven men were killed and two other people were wounded, including a woman among the injured.

An Associated Press journalist at the funerals in the village’s cemetery saw the bodies of seven men - none of them minors. The discrepancy could not immediately be explained.

They receive a report on the scene that utterly contradicts the lies of the Syrian government, and yet, they still publish those lies in the lead—before pointing out the “discrepancy” of the fact that only adult males were being buried. You know, the kind of people that generally go to Iraq to perform terrorist acts.

And once again, let me point out that most local newspapers publish only the first three to five paragraphs of AP world news articles. The truth is in the fourth paragraph.

The Associated Press: All the lies they see fit to print.

I wrote my 1 p.m. post earlier today and scheduled it. Here’s the lead from the first version of the AP story about Tzipi Livni calling for new elections:

Prime Minister-designate Tzipi Livni on Sunday abandoned her efforts to form a new coalition government and said she would recommend early parliamentary elections.

Palestinians worried the decision could put already fragile peace talks in limbo for months until the elections are held. The balloting could also clear the way for opposition leader Benjamin Netanyahu, who rejects sweeping territorial concessions to the Palestinians, to reclaim the premiership.

And here’s the lead in the AP update:

Prime Minister-designate Tzipi Livni abandoned efforts to form a government Sunday, putting Israel on course for new elections and endangering already fragile Middle East peace talks.

Palestinians fear the decision could put a year’s worth of peace talks in limbo for months, until elections are held. The balloting opens the door for opposition leader Benjamin Netanyahu, who rejects sweeping territorial concessions to the Arabs, to return to power.

There’s also this, which wasn’t in the earlier piece:

Peacemaking foundered during Netanyahu’s 3-year tenure as prime minister in the 1990s, and his positions have not softened since.

He quit Ariel Sharon’s government because he opposed Israel’s 2005 withdrawal from the Gaza Strip and opposes ceding sovereignty over any part of east Jerusalem, which Israel captured in the 1967 Mideast war.

Do you know what they fail to mention? Why peacemaking “foundered” during Netanyahu’s term.

As Prime Minister, Netanyahu negotiated with Yasser Arafat in the form of the Wye River Accords (1998). No progress was made regarding negotiations with the Palestinians, and although they failed to implement agreed-upon steps of the Oslo Accords, Netanyahu turned over most of Hebron to Palestinian jurisdiction. In 1996, Netanyahu and Jerusalem’s mayor Ehud Olmert decided to open an exit for the Western Wall Tunnel. This sparked three days of rioting by Palestinians, resulting in both Israelis and Palestinians being killed.

You see, Netanyahu turned over Hebron to Arafat, but the Palestinians rioted over lies that their precious aqsa mosque was being destroyed (obviously, it was not).

But just in case you weren’t sure that Netanyahu was one of those evil Likud guys that Obama likes to denigrate, the AP points it out for you. And lays all the blame of the “foundering” peace talks on his shoulders. Not on, say the terrorist bombings that happened just before and during his term as PM:

• Mar 3, 1996 - In a suicide bombing of bus No. 18 on Jaffa Road in Jerusalem, 19 were killed (16 civilians and 3 soldiers).
• Mar 4, 1996 - Outside Dizengoff Center in Tel-Aviv, a suicide bomber detonated a 20-kilogram nail bomb, killing 13 (12 civilians and one soldier).
• Mar 21, 1997 - Three people were killed when a suicide bomber detonated a bomb on the terrace of a Tel Aviv cafe. 48 people were wounded.
• Jul 30, 1997 - 16 people were killed and 178 wounded in two consecutive suicide bombings in the Mahane Yehuda market in Jerusalem.
• Sep 4, 1997 - Five people were killed and 181 wounded in three suicide bombings on the Ben-Yehuda pedestrian mall in Jerusalem.
• Oct 29, 1998 - One Israeli soldier was killed when a terrorist drove an explosives-laden car into an Israeli army jeep escorting a bus with 40 elementary school students from the settlement of Kfar Darom in the Gaza Strip.

Funny how the AP doesn’t mention these things.

I do.

The AP never fails to disappoint. Now they’re upset that—horrors—an election might give Israelis a chance to elect someone the AP doesn’t agree with.

Prime Minister-designate Tzipi Livni on Sunday abandoned her efforts to form a new coalition government and said she would recommend early parliamentary elections.

Palestinians worried the decision could put already fragile peace talks in limbo for months until the elections are held. The balloting could also clear the way for opposition leader Benjamin Netanyahu, who rejects sweeping territorial concessions to the Palestinians, to reclaim the premiership.

Oh noes! Israelis could vote for Likud again! And we all know what that means. It’s Obamanable:

“I think there is a strain within the pro-Israel community that says unless you adopt an unwavering pro-Likud approach to Israel, then you’re anti-Israel, and that can’t be the measure of our friendship with Israel,” leading Democratic presidential contender Illinois Senator Barack Obama said Sunday.

I love the “early elections” bit. They are long overdue.

Shas asked for too much. Livni was either more explicit with the Israeli press, or the AP cleaned up her quotes.

“I’m sick of this extortion,” Livni was quoted as telling her advisers. “We’ll see all these heroes in 90 days.”

However, it ain’t over ’til it’s over. That article says Livni has postponed her meeting with Peres, leading some to believe that Shas has lowered its ransom demand to a reasonable level for Livni.

Really, really disgusts me, the politics in Israel. You need to rewrite your election laws completely, Israel.

Another Palestinian murdered another Jew in the City of David.

A young Arab man murdered a civilian and injured a police officer in Jerusalem’s Gilo neighborhood on Thursday morning.

The 60-year-old citizen was critically injured and evacuated to the Shaare Zedek Medical Center in the capital, where he died of his wounds. The police officer, 32, sustained light to moderate wounds and was evacuated to the Hadassah Ein Kerem Hospital.

The terrorist sustained moderate to serious wounds in his stomach after being shot by the injured policeman. He was also taken to the Hadassah Ein Kerem Hospital.

Should have killed him. He’ll be released in an upcoming prisoner exchange some day. Just watch.

The AP spin:

Police: Palestinian man fatally stabs Israeli
A Palestinian assailant fatally stabbed an 86-year-old man and wounded a police officer in an east Jerusalem neighborhood on Thursday, authorities said, in what they called a “terror incident.”

Yes, it’s “what they called” a terror incident. Because it’s not like this is terrorism:

Police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said the attack erupted when a pair of police officers on patrol stopped to question the man during a patrol in the Jewish neighborhood of Gilo.

The man pulled out a knife and stabbed one of the officers, who managed to shoot the assailant, Rosenfeld said.

Rosenfeld said the wounded attacker then grabbed a passer-by and stabbed him before being overpowered.

I’m astonished that the AP named the Israeli spokesman. Normally they just use the words “Israel said,” as if the state were some walking, talking creature. But of course, you can’t have an AP article without the standard pro-Palestinian bias:

Gilo is among a group of Jewish neighborhoods established in east Jerusalem after Israel captured the area in the 1967 Middle East War. The Palestinians claim east Jerusalem as the capital of a future independent state.

I repeat: City of David.

Earlier this week, the AP reported, Syria and Lebanon Set Up Formal Ties:

The initiative by President Bashar al-Assad of Syria ends six decades of nonrecognition and meets a demand by the United States that Syria act to help achieve stability in the region, even as Syria pursued indirect peace talks with Israel. Syria and Lebanon said they planned to open embassies by the end of the year.

Just peachy, right?

And the article concludes:

Syria has dominated Lebanon for decades and long kept a military presence there, regarding it as a Syrian province.

Note that the word “occupation” is never used. Also note the uncertain tense of that sentence. Does Syria still regard Lebanon as its own? The AP won’t tell you that, but Jonathan Spyer will. In An iron fist in a velvet glove, Spyer writes:

Lebanese commentators are expressing cautious optimism. However, the more likely prognosis is that Syria will continue to exercise its will in Lebanon through a combination of diplomacy and other means. Syria apparently expects that the Lebanese opposition will make significant gains in the elections scheduled for March.

Damascus is also understood to expect that a Barack Obama victory in the US presidential election will mark the end of Syrian international isolation.

The independent military capacity wielded by Hizbullah - pointed at Israel and, where necessary, at pro-Western forces in Lebanon - continues to be supplied via Damascus. This capacity holds the final word in Lebanon. Nothing can happen without its consent.

Nothing’s changed. Syria’s making a cosmetic change for international consumption but isn’t giving up its designs on Lebanon.

Crossposted on Soccer Dad.

The AP is broadcasting only half of Iran’s ruler, Ayatollah Khameini, in this short wire service story that, unsurprisingly, is not being picked up and distributed widely. At least, not as widely as the AP’s Rosh Hashanah story, which can’t carry the details of the Jewish New Year without contrasting them with the Palestinian hardships in Gaza.

Here’s the angle the AP is taking from the speech:

Khamenei: Iran won’t let Palestinians be alone
Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said on Wednesday that Iran will stand beside the Hamas government in Gaza and that Israel is weakening and on the path to eventual destruction, state television reported.

Khamenei, who has the final say on all state matters, called Hamas’ prime minister in Gaza, Ismail Haniyeh, a “mujahed”, or holy warrior, saying “the Iranian nation will never let you be alone.”

Khamenei said Israel “has weakened day by day … Today, officials of the Zionist regime acknowledge that they are moving towards weakness, destruction and defeat,” according to state television.

“Definitely, the world of Islam will see that day and hope the existing generation of the Palestinian people will watch the day Palestine is at the disposal of the Palestinian people, in the hands of the landlords,” he said at prayers marking the Islamic Eid al-Fitr holiday that ends the holy month of Ramadan.

And here’s what else he said, that is not being broadcast widely.

Supreme Leader: Muslim world unity to foil enemies’ offensives
Supreme Leader of Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei here on Wednesday called for unity in the world of Islam, saying it is the only way to confront enemies’ all-out offensives.

“Unity in the world of Islam is the only way to counter enemies’ all-out offensives. Since they feel helpless in the face of huge movement of Islamic awakening, enemies resort to discord through lies and deception,” said Ayatollah Khamenei in his `Eid-ul-Fitr’ (Feast of Fast Breaking) sermons at Tehran’s Musalla (Grand Prayers Ground) on Wednesday.

Iran has no intention of stopping work on its uranium enrichment, as these are the words of a leader who sees himself at war with the non-Muslim world.

You would think the AP would find these words at least as newsworthy as the Iranian leader’s commitment to the Palestinians.

Apparently not.

The AP couldn’t manage to write a Rosh Hashana story without criticizing Israel. Because gee, when they write Ramadan stories, the first thing they do is bemoan Muslim terrorist attacks. Oh, wait. No they don’t. Here’s what went ’round the world:

Israelis ushered in the Jewish New Year on Monday with festive family dinners - and a warning from their outgoing prime minister that they’ll have to return virtually all the land captured in 1967 to win peace with the Palestinians and Syrians.

Ehud Olmert, who is giving up his office amid a corruption investigation, also exchanged holiday greetings with the Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas. The Jewish New Year, or Rosh Hashana, coincides this year with Eid el-Fitr, one of the holiest days on the Muslim calendar.

Let’s see what the AP says the Palestinians have to do.

Palestinians, meanwhile, prepared for Eid el-Fitr, the three-day holiday marking the end of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan. Eid el-Fitr will start here Tuesday.

In Gaza, outdoor markets were selling nearly all the supplies needed for the holiday, but prices were up sharply, compared to the period before the start of the blockade. Gazans get many of their supplies through smuggling tunnels under the Gaza-Egypt border.

A tunnel operator, who would identify himself only as Abu Nidal, said he had been working double time in the run-up to the holiday.

“Before we used to enter 1, 2 tons a day of goods in general,” he said. “These days, from 5 to 6 tons.” He added that the smuggled goods range from clothes and chocolate to balloons.

Got the narrative? Israel will have to give up all the territory captured in 1967. Because Ehud Olmert, the unelected Prime Minister of Israel, who is operating without any kind of mandate and is being forced out of office due to corruption investigations, said so. The Palestinians, meantime—have to smuggle Eid food into Gaza. Lots of it.

Now let’s look at the holiday itself. The AP can’t simply describe Rosh Hashanah. Nope. Gotta have the narrative.

Rosh Hashana, which began at sundown, ushers in 10 days of soul-searching capped by Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement. But the New Year holiday itself is a time for festive meals, which traditionally include an apple dipped in honey to symbolize a sweet new year.

Israel closed off the West Bank until late Wednesday, barring Palestinians from entering Israel. It is a measure common during Jewish holidays, to deter possible attacks by Palestinian militants.

The Gaza Strip, the other Palestinian territory, has been virtually sealed off since June 2007, when the Islamic militant group Hamas seized control by force. The vast majority of the territory’s 1.4 million Palestinians have been trapped there since then.

Got it? While Israelis will be having festive meals, after days of soul-searching, the Gazans are trapped inside the Gaza Strip (and there’s almost no context save for the reference to Hamas above), and working double-time to smuggle in Eid feast goods.

File this under, “Why we hate the AP.”

The AP covered the Palestinian protests against the security barrier in an in-depth story. But there’s something pretty huge missing from this story. In fact, it’s missing from the lead, and from any real description of the protests, until way, way down in the article.

A Palestinian teen tracks Israeli troops with a video camera to document abuse of demonstrators.

A community organizer tours West Bank villages with a PowerPoint presentation teaching the art of creative protest.

These are just two examples of the increasingly savvy methods Palestinians are using to fight Israel’s West Bank separation barrier - a campaign whose danger was driven home this week by the death of a 10-year-old Palestinian boy.

Six years after Israel began building the barrier, Palestinian villagers march almost daily in an attempt to halt construction work that threatens to swallow up thousands more acres of West Bank land. Many protests turn into confrontations between youths hurling rocks and Israeli troops responding with tear gas, rubber-coated steel bullets and at times live fire.

The aim is to slow construction, draw media attention and ensure that Israeli high court judges hearing challenges to the barrier’s route “will think twice before deciding such a high-profile case,” said Michael Sfard, an Israeli lawyer representing Palestinian villages.

The art of creative protest—is that what they’re calling stoning these days? Oh, the stoning? You have to read down twenty paragraphs before you find any notice of it whatsoever, or any of the other violent tactics used every single day at the Naalin protests. The AP likes to pretend that the violence doesn’t exist, or is in response to the soldiers responding to the protesters.

“They taught us how to tie ourselves to a tree and blind soldiers with mirrors,” said Abdullah, adding he also learned to surprise soldiers by holding protests in different places to confuse them.

Abdullah Abu Rahmeh, a Bilin activist who worked with Bedouin tribesmen who complain of harassment by Jewish settlers, said he begins by discussing resistance.

“I then show them a documentary of Bilin and I pause at the different strategies we have, like stuffing ourselves in barrels and rolling in front of bulldozers,” Abu Rahmeh said.

At one Naalin protest, Palestinian youths rushed down sloping olive groves, whooping as they climbed onto a bulldozer clearing land for the barrier. The startled driver was quickly chased away while other Palestinians lobbed rocks to divert the soldiers, who hurled back sound bombs and tear gas, leaving plumes of acrid smoke.

The bulldozer’s work was held up for a couple of hours - a successful outcome, Palestinians said.

Although Bilin activists say they teach nonviolent forms of protest, they are reluctant to tell other Palestinians not to hurl rocks, saying it’s a matter left for individual villages to decide.

The rocks that they hurl are generally not pebbles. Soldiers are regularly injured by the rocks and protesters. And protesters regularly lie and fake injuries for the camera.

The AP once again presents an extremely biased article. Notice that there are no quotes from Israeli officials at all. There is no other side presented, something that you’d never see in any kind of article about Israel. And the de-emphasis on the fact that these protests turn violent every single time is a huge omission by the AP. These are not peaceful protests. They are calculated, violent protests, and they unfortunately turned deadly several days ago. The IDF is investigating the soldiers’ use of live fire. Who is investigating the protesters’ use of violence day after day after day?

Certainly not the AP. They end their story with some good advice for protesters:

In the meantime, Palestinians are honing their strategies.

“Now I tell the protesters, take a camera, take a camera,” Kanaan said, holding her own.

That’s a great idea. But I have a better one. Israel should impound the cameras and distribute video of the rock-throwing and violence by Palestinians and “internationals” (you just know the ISM creeps are in this up to their ears). Not that it would change the AP anti-Israel bias. But the facts would be out there for the rest of us.

The AP falsely reported that Israel is building a new settlement on the West Bank and linked this to a wrong-headed spin on an important national leader visiting Israel.

No, not Obama! He’s still just a candidate. I’m referring to British Prime Minister Gordon Brown. Curiously, Brown’s visit was highlighted for its criticism of Israel by the AP though his trip was seen in Israel as incredibly supportive.

While I realize that AP is a fairly loose association and is rather a gathering of all kinds, the frequency of anti-Israeli reports it produces is way above normal. And it’s not only loose, but allows its contributors to play loose with facts to score a cheap propaganda point.

More in this article by professor Barry Rubin of GLORIA Center.

Cross-posted on SimplyJews.

The AP never disappoints. Nine people have been killed and 42 wounded in Lebanon in the past two days, yet all you find is a brief story in the AP, whitewashed and vague. On the other hand, Israeli troops found and killed a wanted terrorist who was responsible for a suicide bombing. The story is in-depth, and covers several different Israel-related topics on top of the dead Hamasnik.

Let’s take a look at the news out of Lebanon, where we have sectarian fighting going on. The headline:

Clashes continue in northern Lebanon, 3 die

Now let’s take a look at Hebron, where the IDF found (and destroyed) a wanted terrorist:

Israeli troops kill Hamas militant

Hm. You’d think that the Lebanese died due to natural causes or something, judging from that headline. And yet, there is absolutely no doubt why the Hamas terrorist died. It was lead poisoning to the body delivered from the barrels of IDF weapons.

Now let us compare the leads.

Israeli troops killed a Hamas militant in the West Bank town of Hebron early Sunday, surrounding a house and exchanging gunfire with the man before bulldozing the structure.

A Hamas statement said the 25-year-old man was a group member who fought troops for 12 hours before he was killed. The statement threatened retaliation “at the time and place we choose.”

The Israeli military said during the gunfight, troops heard explosions from inside the house, presumably from bombs stored inside. The militant’s mangled body was seen being removed from the rubble.

Ooh, that’s exciting! A 12-hour gun battle, retaliation threats, and explosions! I wonder if the Lebanese civil war “clash” is half as exciting.

Lebanese security officials say three people have been killed in the second day of sectarian clashes in northern Lebanon.

The clashes in Tripoli are between Sunnis and Alawites, an offshoot of Shiite Islam.

The officials say the three were killed and 27 were wounded on Saturday. A total of nine people have been killed and 42 wounded in two days of fighting. The officials spoke condition of anonymity because they weren’t allowed to talk to the media.

Nope. There’s not a word of description of the battle, other than the vague “clash.” There have been two full days of fighting in northern Lebanon, leading to what the media would call “scores” of casualties if Israel or America were doing the fighting—but you don’t get details here. Because the victims aren’t victims of Israel or the U.S.

Now, the AP explanations of the “violence”:

Israel and Hamas are observing a cease-fire in the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip. But the agreement does not apply in the West Bank, ruled by moderate Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. Israeli troops continue to target militants in the territory, despite objections from Abbas that such actions embarrass him and undermine his control.

According to Israeli defense officials, the militant helped to plan a February suicide bombing in the Israeli town of Dimona that killed a 73-year-old woman and wounded 11.

Note that for every explanation, Israel must be slammed. What purpose does it serve to write the words in bold above, other than to prejudice the reader against Israel? I wonder if they’ll do that kind of explaining with the Lebanon story.

Tension has been high along Lebanon’s religious and political fault lines since the militant Shiite Hezbollah group overran parts of Beirut in May in response to government attempts to limit its power.

Since then, Hezbollah and its allies have joined a national unity government.

Nope. It’s a five-paragraph story. No real depth, just a brief “Oh, look, three more people died in the clash.” Looks like everything is hearts and flowers, except for the part where they’re killing each other—which is glossed over. Please note that the victims are not named, aged, nor are there mournful quotes from relatives. Because that only happens when the dead are Palestinian victims of Israel fire, whether deliberate or accidental.

And we close the book on another fine example of the AP anti-Israel media bias. This is one reason why the world hates Israel. The media narrative always pounds the Jewish State, and eases off the real thugs in the Middle East.

It truly is fascinating to watch the AP bias in reporting about Israel and the Palestinians. Let’s go to an old post of mine first to look at an old AP story about Israel:

Israeli Troops Kill 8 Palestinians
Israeli troops killed eight Palestinians, including a 17-year-old girl, in a two-day surge of fighting across the West Bank and Gaza Strip, Palestinian officials said Sunday.

The dead also included three militants traveling together in a car in the northern West Bank, and a man in Gaza killed in an Israeli airstrike in response to a Palestinian rocket attack.

Now let’s look at the headline that’s been going around since last night about a large, deadly explosion in Gaza:

Unexplained explosions kill 5, wound 20 in Gaza

Isn’t it interesting how the AP is so tentative about assigning blame to this attack? Funny how they’re usually so quick to blame Israel, quoting Palestinian eyewitnesses and terrorist spokesmen, yet here they are, half a day later, and the best they can come up with is “Unexplained explosions” in this headline. Hm. Why is it they would suddenly become so leery of assigning blame?

A powerful explosion ripped through a car on a busy Gaza City beach Friday night, killing a Hamas field commander and three other people, security officials said.

It was the third unexplained blast of the day in this coastal territory after a relatively calm period since Israel and the Islamic militants of Hamas agreed on a cease-fire last month. A total of five people died from the explosions, and 23 suffered injuries.

Wow, it’s the third mystery blast of the day. The crack AP staff can’t figure out who’s behind them. I wonder why that is? (Hint: Because Israel didn’t do it?) And by this time in an AP lead, you generally learn if any children were killed. The “three other people” in this lead are civilians, of course, one of them a child.

No one in Gaza blamed Israel for the violence, indicating it was likely Palestinian infighting.

Oh, how nice of the AP to explain this to us. It’s “likely” that it was Palestinian “infighting.” That’s a cute name for civil war.

The late night blast killed Amar Musubah, a Hamas military field commander, and another Hamas militant, Eyad Al-Hia, medical officials said. A child and a fourth unknown individual also died.

Earlier, unknown assailants set off two bombs in Gaza City, killing one man.

Finally, the child is mentioned, and yet, there is no age given. If this were a story about Israel causing civilian casualties, by now you would know the names and ages of all the victims, soon to be followed by mournful quotes from their relatives, and calls for revenge from terrorists. Funny how the AP writer can’t find this information out when the dead aren’t killed by Israeli fire.

And now, waaaay down in the story, the AP tries to assign blame for the blasts. Guess who they blame first, backhandedly?

Gaza is the scene of regular bloodshed between Israeli forces and Palestinian militants, though the territory has been quiet over the past month because of the truce between Israel and the territory’s Hamas rulers.

Uh-huh. “Regular bloodshed”—what a quaint way of putting the fighting between soldiers and terrorists. Now that we’ve got the blame-Israel-first thing out of the way, we have the real suspect, and note the difference in phrasing:

Gaza is also a common site of internal Palestinian violence between Hamas and Fatah. Hamas fighters defeated Fatah forces during five days of combat in Gaza a year ago, and tensions remain high.

It’s “bloodshed” when Israelis are fighting, but only “violence” when Palestinians fight each other. Now, the AP might tell you that they’re simply trying not to repeat the same word in two paragraphs, but there are many, many words other than “violence” that you can use for the fighting between Hamas and Fatah that resulted in over 100 deaths, including many civilians. Like, “civil war.” But then, when you’re the AP, you have to keep the narrative, and exposing the murderous actions of Palestinian-on-Palestinian “violence” isn’t sticking to the narrative of the peaceful victims of Israeli agression that only want to be left alone to build their state in peace and happiness, forever and ever.

Yet another example of the pro-Palestinian, anti-Israel media bias. But don’t worry. Like Israeli Double Standard Time, that only happens on days that end in a “y.”

Tony Blair called off his trip to Gaza, citing specific security threats. Of course Hamas denies they were threatening Tony Blair, but it’s significant to note that he was visiting Gaza, but refusing to meet with Hamas officials. Hm. Wonder who made the threats, and why? (I wonder how many prisoners they’d get for the release of a former British PM?)

Mideast envoy Tony Blair on Tuesday called off what would have been the first visit of a top Western diplomat to Hamas-ruled Gaza, citing a ‘’specific security threat.”

Blair’s visit Tuesday was to have included a tour of a Gaza waste water project and meetings with traders and UN officials, but not with leaders of Hamas, which seized Gaza by force more than a year ago.

Still, Hamas had made security arrangements for Blair, setting up checkpoints in areas he was expected to tour, banning cars from using roads, and lining streets with black-clad policemen carrying AK-47s.

And wouldn’t that have made a pretty picture. Oh, and here’s your “objective” AP analysis:

Although the once lawless Gaza has been mostly pacified under Hamas’ stern rule, there are still shadowy extremist Muslim groups in the territory. On an Islamist forum popular with Gaza residents, some users slammed Blair’s expected visit, but there were no direct threats of violence against him. Those comments were later removed from the Web site.

Got that? Hamas’ forbidding wedding parties from singing Fatah songs, blowing up video stores and forcing more Islamist behavior has “pacified” Gaza. Throwing Fatah members off buildings is “stern rule.” Way to go, our old pal Ibrahim Barazk.

Taher Nunu, a Hamas government spokesman denied there were any security threats against Blair. “Gaza is still open for all visitors, to break the siege and see the extent of suffering here,” he said.

Yes, the suffering. Hamas members have fuel for their vehicles. The average Gazan does not. Hamas members have the latest weapons and ammunition. The average Gazan has whatever Hamas lets trickle down after it’s delivered, if Hamas stops shooting mortars at the crossings long enough to let supply trucks through. Hamas fakes power blackouts and the press goes along with it, holding candlelight vigils in broad daylight behind curtained windows as AP photographers snap pictures—and the AP runs sympathetic stories that echo this one. Whitewashing the terrorists: that’s the AP’s job, apparently.

One last thought: If Hamas rule has “pacified” Gaza so well, why can’t they protect Tony Blair against terrorist threats? He can visit Iraq at the height of the insurgency, but he can’t manage to get enough protection to visit Gaza?

Blair visited Iraq six times. He’s never been to Gaza. That fact speaks volumes.

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.

Our old buddy Ali Daragmeh, one of those unbiased AP reporters, had this to say about the reason for the violations of the truce by terrorists from Gaza:

Three weeks ago, Israel and Palestinian militants in Hamas-ruled Gaza agreed to a truce. Although the cease-fire is limited to Gaza, confrontations between Israel and Hamas in the West Bank have already provoked Gaza militants to violate the agreement.

Do you understand? It’s Israel’s fault that the terrorists are firing rockets and mortars. Because Israel didn’t violate the truce by acting against Hamas in the West Bank, but by acting against Hamas in the West Bank, they provoked Hamas in Gaza to “retaliate” by violating the truce. Got that? It’s Alice in Wonderland logic.

This is what passes for objective reporting by the Associated Press. And oh yeah—check out the unbiased lead.

Israeli troops in jeeps swooped down on the West Bank town of Nablus early Monday, shutting down a girls’ school, a medical center and two other facilities of a Hamas-affiliated charity, witnesses said.

Just in case you hadn’t gotten the point. And yes, this is what constitutes Israeli “provocation” to break the truce. Israel arrests terrorists and siezes property. That means Hamas is “provoked” into responding by trying to murder Israelis.

Yep. That unbiased media. Gotta love it.

One of the things that is extremely puzzling about any AP report on Samir Kuntar is why the AP insists on presenting Kuntar’s side of the story as if the facts were disputed. In every story about the Lebanese prisoner exchange, you now read something like this:

One of the Lebanese convicts to be freed in the deal has been held in an Israeli prison nearly 30 years for his role in a 1979 attack that Israelis perceive as one of the cruelest in their history.

Samir Kantar dragged a man and his 4-year-old daughter from their apartment to the beach below, and according to witness testimony, shot the man to death in front of his child, then crushed her head against a rock with his rifle butt. He also was convicted of killing a policeman. The man’s wife accidentally smothered their 2-year-old daughter in an effort to keep her from crying out and disclosing their hiding place in a crawl space in the apartment.

Kantar has denied killing the older child or crushing her skull.

He was caught by Israeli soldiers. When he saw that he was about to be caught, he murdered his two captives. There is no dispute, which is why he’s serving life in prison. And yet, the AP sees fit to include Kuntar’s denial in every article in which they mention his crimes.

Why?

What purpose does it serve?

How does it show “objectivity” to include a murderer’s protestations of innocence? There were witnesses. He was tried and convicted in an Israeli court. And still, the AP includes Kuntar’s lies.

I think it speaks volumes about the AP’s utter lack of objectivity when it comes to Israel.

Yesterday, Boker Tov Boulder aptly observed that following a terror attack:

… there’s the attack by the media that inevitably follows. Then there’s the aftermath, in which we can see the results of the first two, usually along the lines of Israel being weakened and our enemies further emboldened.

The attack she referred to was by the BBC.

It didn’t take long elsewhere.

via memeorandum

The New York Time reported on yesterday’s terror attack. There’s nothing remarkable about the headline:

Palestinian Kills 3 With Construction Vehicle.

However that wasn’t the original headline, that read:

Construction Vehicle Kills 3 in Israel Attack

However as we all know construction vehicles don’t kill people, people kill people.

(h/t LGF’s link viewer)

Similarly Meryl observed that the AP headline used words as if:

… it was an accident, instead of a deliberate, murderous attack.

McClatchy’s Jerusalem correspondent showed his true colors with:

The video also shows a policeman shooting the lifeless man at point-blank range, a move that could spark questions from Israeli human rights groups about whether the officer’s shot was necessary and if he might have unnecessarily killed the man.

(Though, from the footage, it looks as if the first shots probably killed him.)

My first thoughts on observing this action would have been amazement at the heroism of the shooters; his first thought was of the possible human rights violation. The truth is that Israeli security forces follow a protocol of “confirming the kill.” This is especially important when terrorists may have explosives strapped to their bodies.

The Israelis intervening yesterday had no idea, of course, if the terrorist was indeed wearing explosives but it wasn’t a chance they could take. And given that he was at the controls of a construction vehicle, if he were still capable of controlling it he presented a danger.

Just for a reminder here’s what happened in Dimona a few months ago:

Shalom Bar Avi, a journalist speaking to Channel 10, said “I am here no longer as a journalist but as a simple citizen … I pray and hope my wife is okay.”

Bar Avi praised the police’s quick response to the attack, and said Mor, the officer who identified the second attacker shot “four or five times … he took no chances.”

Later Mor’s heroism was revealed in detail: He shot the terrorist in the head, and when the latter in his last breath still tried to press the detonator button, shot him four more times and killed him. Mor managed to kill the terrorist before he could explode and without hitting his explosive belt, thus preventing a much more devastating attack.

You don’t take chances. And while this isn’t the reason the terrorist was killed, Seraphic Secret notes:

Here’s the good news: this is one Muslim terrorist who will not be used in a disgraceful and damaging prisoner swap.

The reaction to terror against Israel is telling of the mindset of those reporting the news. Though it was reported that the terrorist yelled “Allahu Akbar” most press accounts still try to raise doubts that this was a terrorist attack rather than an accident or criminal act.

(There are those who complained that Al Jazeera’s coverage of the attack was too pro-Israel!)

Ha’aretz reports on the Israelis who stopped the attack.

“I approached the bus on my bicycle, and then began to run to the site, looking for a weapon to use against the terrorist,” he told reporters yesterday. The military censor imposed a gag order on his identity.

Near the bulldozer the young soldier found a civilian, Oron Ben-Shimon, 28, a regional manager of a security firm in Jerusalem, who was armed. “Together we tried to neutralize the terrorist, at least to lift his feet off the pedals.

“He shouted ‘Allah Akbar.’ At that moment I pulled the pistol that Oron carried and shot the terrorist three times in the head. After I verified that he was dead, I raised the pistol to make sure that passersby were not hurt,” he recounted.

“I went out on Jaffa Road,” says Oron, “and as I was driving I saw a crowd of people shouting ‘terrorist’ and ‘mad man.’ I put on a police hat, and took my pistol and ran toward the bulldozer.”

“I saw a policeman on the bulldozer with a drawn gun. I holstered my weapon and the policeman told me there was no need to shoot him because he passed out and we need to pull him out of the bulldozer.

“And then the terrorist woke up and grabbed the wheel and tried to run over more people. I was already on the bulldozer and I hit him with my fists in the face in an effort to take over the wheel. I shouted to the young man near me to shoot him. He drew my pistol from the holster and shot him three times in the head.”

Oron confirms that the terrorist was dead when shot by the policeman. Still even here, the terrorist apparently out of commission started his attack again.

Then there’s the heroism of a mother who saved her baby:

Seconds before being crushed to death by a bulldozer, 33-year-old Batsheva Unterman succeeded in unbuckling her 5-month-old baby from the car-seat and passing her out through the window to safety.

“Just as I took the baby out, he reversed on top of the car. The baby is okay, but not the mother,” Jeremy Aronson, the man who helped save the baby, told The Jerusalem Post quietly as he sat alone in the waiting room of Hadassah-University Hospital in Mount Scopus.

I am amazed by those who can act quickly at times of crisis. Unfortunately Mrs. Unterman didn’t survive.

Crossposted on Soccer Dad.

The original AP headline for the Palestinian terror attack in Jerusalem?

Driver rams vehicle into Jerusalem bus, killing 3

Like it was an accident, instead of a deliberate, murderous attack.

The current AP boilerplate for Gaza is as follows:

The Egyptian-brokered deal aims to end a year of violence that has killed more than 400 Palestinians, including dozens of civilians, and seven Israelis in a bloody cycle of Palestinian rocket attacks and Israeli reprisals.

That’s actually an improvement from a few days ago:

The cease-fire, which Egypt labored for months to conclude, aims to bring an end to a year of fighting that has killed seven Israelis and more than 400 Palestinians, many of them civilians, since the Islamic militant group Hamas wrested control of Gaza a year ago.

The thing is, both of the boilerplates have completely ignored dozens of Israeli casualties in this terror war. The “seven Israelis” the AP mentions are the tip of the iceberg. The AP is only counting civilian deaths. But that’s wrong. Eleven Israeli soldiers have been killed by terrorists from Gaza in the past year. Here are the total number of deaths caused by terrorists from the Gaza Strip since Hamas took over:

July 12, 2007 - Staff Sgt. Arbel Reich, 21, of Yuvalim was killed when Hamas terrorists ambushed IDF troops engaged in anti-terror activity in the Bureij refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip. The terrorists detonated previously planted explosive devices and then opened fire with rocket-propelled grenades and machineguns.

Oct 17, 2007 - Sgt. Ben Kubani, 20, of Hadera, was killed in an exchange of fire with terrorists during IDF activity targeting the terror infrastructure near Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip.

Oct 29, 2007 - IDF reservist St.-Sgt. Maj. Ehud Efrati, 34, of Beit Yehoshua was killed in an exchange of fire with Palestinian terrorists in southern Gaza Strip, near the Sufa crossing.

Jan 15, 2008 - Carlos Andrés Mosquera Chávez, a 21-year-old volunteer from Quito, Ecuador, was killed by a Palestinian sniper from the Gaza Strip as he was working in the fields of Kibbutz Ein Hashlosha. The Hamas Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades claimed responsibility for the shooting.

Feb 27, 2008 - Roni Yihye, 47, of Moshav Bitcha in southern Israel, a student at Sapir College, was killed Wednesday afternoon when a Kassam rocket exploded in a parking lot near the Sderot campus. He died shortly after sustaining massive wounds to his chest. Hamas claimed responsibility for the attack.

Mar 1, 2008 - St. Sgt. Doron Asulin, 20, of Beersheba and St. Sgt. Eran Dan-Gur, 20, of Jerusalem were killed in an exchange of fire with Hamas terrorists during an IDF anti-terror operation in northern Gaza targeting rocket launchings. The gunmen reportedly fired mortar shells, antitank and RPG missiles at the soldiers.

Mar 6, 2008 - An IDF soldier - a Bedouin tracker, 27 - was killed during a routine patrol along the security fence in the central Gaza Strip, near Kissufim, when Palestinian terrorists detonated an explosive device near the jeep in which he was driving. Hamas and the Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility for the attack.
St.-Sgt. Liran Banai, 20, of Ashkelon, the critically wounded jeep driver, succumbed to his injuries on Sunday, March 9.

Apr 9, 2008 - St.-Sgt. Sayef Bisan, 21, of the Druze village of Jat in the western Galilee was killed in an exchange of fire with Palestinian terrorists in an overnight IDF operation against terror infrastructure in the southern Gaza Strip. Two soldiers were wounded.

Apr 9, 2008 - Oleg Lipson, 37, and Lev Cherniak, 53, both of Beersheba, were killed when Palestinian terrorists, after firing a salvo of mortars at the Nahal Oz area, penetrated the fuel terminal and opened fire on the civilian employees.

Apr 16, 2008 - Three IDF soldiers - Sgt. Menhash al-Banyat, 20, of the Bedouin community of Kseife in the Negev; Sgt. Matan Ovdati, 19, of Moshav Patish in the western Negev; and Sgt. David Papian, 21, of Tel Aviv - were killed in a confrontation with armed Palestinian gunmen approaching the Gaza security fence south of the Nahal Oz fuel terminal. Three other soldiers were wounded.

May 9, 2008 - Jimmy Kadoshim, 48, of Kibbutz Kfar Aza, was killed by mortar fire from the Gaza Strip while tending his garden.

May 12, 2008 - Shuli Katz, 70, of Kibbutz Gevaram, was killed while visiting relatives at Moshav Yesha, some 15 kms (9 miles) from the Gaza Strip.

June 5, 2008 - Amnon Rosenberg, 51, of Kibbutz Nirim was killed and four other employees were wounded when a mortar bomb fired by Palestinian terrorists from the Gaza Strip exploded outside the Nirlat paint factory in Kibbutz Nir-Oz. Hamas claimed responsibility for the attack.

That’s eighteen deaths due to Gaza terrorism—not seven. The AP wants to have it both ways: Keep Palestinian terrorists in the casualty count, but eliminate Israeli soldiers killed by terrorists. The end result ameliorates the effects of Hamas terror since the takeover of Gaza.

It’s an utter whitewashing of the real Israeli casualties, and very typical of the mainstream media. The double standard is reprehensible. Palestinian civilian deaths, and overall Palestinian death totals, are played up—while Israeli soldier death tolls are ignored utterly. Note that I didn’t even count the deaths by terrorists that occurred within Israel itself, even though some of them were perpetrated by Hamas terrorists. Those figures, too, are ignored by the AP. But just because the AP doesn’t report the deaths doesn’t mean they didn’t occur.

In Gaza, though, the AP is misrepresenting the facts. Eighteen Israeli deaths by terror occured between June 15, 2007 and June 15, 2008—in the “year of violence,” as the AP called it. The evidence is right there, in black and white. Seven civilians and eleven soldiers were killed. Perhaps the AP should change its count to reflect the facts accurately. After all, it has no such compunctions about including the American soldier casualty counts in Iraq and Afghanistan.

But that’s a post for another day.

And here we go. Buried in the middle of an article about an Israeli guard who committed suicide while Sarkozy was boarding his plane to leave Israel, we have this description of the Palestinians violating the truce:

Earlier, Palestinian militants fired three homemade rockets into southern Israel, the first such attack since a cease-fire between Israel and Gaza militants took effect last week.

Israel condemned the attack as a “gross violation” of the truce, but did not say whether it would retaliate.

The barrage wounded two people and capped a day of violence that presented the truce with its first serious test.

Note how the AP won’t call it a violation of the truce, but insist on using an unnamed Israeli spokesman calling it a violation. The truce wasn’t violated, even though three rockets and mortars have been fired into Israel in the last few hours.

As for whether or not Olmert will declare the cease-fire to be over… still waiting.

Check out the headline:

Rockets hit Israel, which says truce broken

Gee. The truce says no launching of rockets. Rockets were launched. Is the truce broken? The AP doesn’t know. It has to say that Israel says the truce was broken. Yet another example of your anti-Israel media bias. And we also have the AP carrying the terrorists’ justification for launching the rockets.

Police say three Palestinian rockets have hit southern Israel and Prime Minister Ehud Olmert’s office says the cease-fire that took effect last week has been broken.

Islamic Jihad militants in the Gaza Strip says they carried out the attack to avenge an Israeli military raid that killed one of their fighters in the West Bank early Tuesday.

Israel’s national rescue service says two people were lightly wounded in the rocket barrage.

The West Bank is not formally part of the truce. But Islamic Jihad says it “cannot keep its hands tied” when its “brothers” in the West Bank are being targeted.

However, the Gaza Strip’s ruling Hamas group says it remains committed to the truce.

Notice how it carries both the Hamas and PIJ excuses.

It. Doesn’t. Matter.

The truce was broken the second those rockets headed towards Israel. (Actually, it was broken the second Hamas refused to stop smuggling, but we’ll ignore that for now.) The AP can’t bring itself to say so? Why is that?

Gee. Wonder who wrote that piece. There’s no byline. But I’m betting it wasn’t an Israeli.