Reading the Independent UK headline, you would think the IDF (Israel Defense Forces) killed four innocent men out for a stroll: “Israeli army kills four Palestinians attempting to cross Gaza fence”
Here is the headline of the same event, reported by Times of Israel:
IDF says large-scale terror attack thwarted as troops prevent Gaza infiltration — 4 Gazans with AK-47s, RPGs, hand grenades and hunting knives killed when one throws grenade at soldiers during attempt to scale barrier; Hamas says they ‘acted independently’
When is a terrorist not a terrorist?
Judging by a recent Independent headline, the answer would seem to be when they are thwarted in the act of staging an attack on Israel.
On Saturday morning, a large-scale terror attack was prevented when Israeli soldiers killed four Palestinians trying to infiltrate into Israel from the Gaza Strip.
The men were armed with rocket-propelled grenades, hunting knives, AK-47 rifles, hand grenades and bolt cutters. After one of them hurled a grenade at the Israeli soldiers, the soldiers returned fire, killing the four terrorists. A tweet from the IDF depicted the dizzying array of weapons carried by the would-be assailants….
Nevertheless, instead of referring to the men as terrorists or militants, The Independent’s headline left out a significant part of the story. “Israeli army kills four Palestinians attempting to cross Gaza fence” reads like a description of a totally different event.
Upon further investigation, HonestReporting noted that the piece was taken from the Associated Press. The original piece, however, had a different headline: “Israeli army kills 4 militants trying to cross Gaza fence.” Though this headline is also problematic, failing to note that the terrorists actively attacked Israeli soldiers, at least it correctly identifies them as combatants.
Clearly, someone at The Independent saw the Associated Press story and decided to run it — but not before changing the headline to obscure the fact that these men were terrorists carrying a substantial supply of bullets and grenades together with RPGs, rifles and knives….
