Thursday, October 06, 2011

The Bias at Reuters

Reuters reports:

Settlers' mosque-burning campaign expands into Israel

A Palestinian man stands next to Hebrew graffiti sprayed on the wall of a mosque in West Bank village of al-Mughayyir near Ramallah June 7, 2011.

By Allyn Fisher-Ilan

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - They strike in the dead of night, setting fire to mosques and daubing their walls with "Price Tag" graffiti, the defiant slogan of Israeli settlers waging a vigilante campaign...


I left this comment there:

May I suggest a correction? As far as I know, not one indictment, nor a court case or a conviction has occured and therefore to write "settlers" are responsible is unethical and wrong. "Suspects" is a word a journalist should use in this case as in "settlers are suspected of...". Of course, other suspects include provocateurs from the Northern Islamic Movement and it is a shame that Reuters has taken a stand based not on facts but biased assumptions.

The article claims that

Police said they had set up a special task force to deal with the "price taggers" and announced on Thursday that they had arrested a suspect in the Tuba-Zangariya case.

In another potential breakthrough against the militants, three settlers were charged in a court in Jerusalem on Wednesday with planning to set fire to a West Bank mosque.

I can't locate that news, and I searched in Hebrew.

And did Reuters play up the defacing of Joseph's Tomb in Shchem?

Ah, here, at the JPost:

Suspect arrested in Tuba Zanghariya mosque torching

"Price tag" suspect is yeshiva student from northern Israel; police say forensic evidence found at scene of crime; gag order partially lifted.

Police arrested a suspect from northern Israel several days ago in connection with the torching of a mosque in the village of Tuba Zanghariya overnight Sunday in an apparent "Price Tag" attack.

Initial suspicions against the suspect, who attends a yeshiva in the West Bank, have only grown, the Kfar Saba magistrate said during the remand hearing. The suspect is said by police to have entered the mosque in Tuba Zanghariya early on October 3, setting it on fire and causing heavy damage.

His attorney, Adi Kedar, questioned what evidence police had to link the suspect to the incident and called for his client to be released. Police said basic forensic evidence had been taken from the scene of the crime but refused to provide further details.

We'll wait though. Previous arrests have ended with nothing.

^

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Is Tablet self hating as well?



http://www.tabletmag.com/scroll/80189/the-existential-threat-of-settler-violence/

You can read about the same ideological milieu, Israel’s burgeoning and beastly rabid right, torching a mosque in northern Israel earlier this week, vandalizing the home of a well-known peace activist in Jerusalem, even infiltrating an Israel Defense Forces base and destroying vehicles and equipment to protest the army’s demolition of three illegally built houses in the Migron outpost.

The violence is epidemic. And it’s only going to get worse. There is no greater threat to Israel’s security.

YMedad said...

a) did I saying anything about "self-hating"? got a chip on your shoulder?

b) i didn't write anything in defense of any violence and have condemned "price tag" actions".

c) all i did was point out a major blunder in journslism ethics by Reuters in publishing what it did.

d) btw, the suspect was arrested the night of the torching in...Ariel. Does he engage in קפיצת הדרך"?