Say, AP, bias much?
Once again, the AP uses extremely biased language to slant a story as anti-Israel as possible. Here’s the Ynet description of what happened at yet another Palestinian “protest” (Ynet called it what it was, a “violent clash”):
According to the report, Mohammad Taysir Abu-Awad was injured by a grenade used as crowd-control measures, during a violent clash between Palestinians and IDF forces at the Atara crossing, north of Ramallah.
And here’s the unbiased AP version. Lead paragraph. The one that goes out to all the newspapers. Note that the AP has obviously conducted an investigation, interviewed witnesses, and determined the soldier’s intent.
A young Palestinian man had his skull smashed after an Israeli soldier shot a tear gas canister at his head during a demonstration where he was hurling rocks on Monday, said an eyewitness and a medical official.
Way to be objective, AP! And lest you think it’s a fluke, well, further down the story you have the AP background on incidents like this:
Other Palestinians and their supporters have been killed by Israeli forces firing tear gas canisters.
Most recently, 28-year-old, Mustafa Tamimi from the West Bank village of Nabi Saleh was killed in December after he was shot in the face with a tear gas canister while hurling rocks at an armored vehicle jeep.
The senior Israeli military official said the soldier’s vision was limited by a gas mask and that Tamimi had run into the line of fire. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak on the subject.
Again, deliberate intent. The unbiased phrase would be “hit in the face,” but then, this is the AP, and they’re writing about Israel. Why be unbiased when the world likes it this way? It’s not until the very last paragraph that you learn that Palestinians have been rioting for weeks.
Israeli forces and Palestinians have clashed violently in recent weeks in and around the Jerusalem area. Palestinian youths have hurled mostly rocks, but also firecrackers and fire bombs at Israeli soldiers and paramilitary police, who have responded with tear gas, rubber bullets and on some occasions, live fire. In one clash on Feb. 24., soldiers shot and killed a 23-year-old Palestinian Talat Ramia.
And I will remind you once more, when the AP says “stones,” this is what they’re talking about. Giant chunks of concrete that can kill a person.
Just another day in the anti-Israel media world. Let’s see if they change the lead as the day goes by. I’m thinking not, on this one.