The Guardian used a new euphemism for terror attacks, a term rolled out in a comically misleading report on an IDF operation this morning targeting a bomb factory in the West Bank city of Nablus used by the Lion’s Den terror group.
Before addressing the term in question, let’s begin where the bias begins: in the headline of the Oct. 25 report – attributed to “Guardian staff” – and opening paragraphs:
Here are the opening paragraphs:
Four Palestinians have been killed and nearly 20 others injured by Israeli forces operating in the occupied West Bank, the Palestinian Health Ministry has said.
The ministry said in a brief statement that three were killed and 19 wounded, three seriously, by Israeli fire during a raid early on Tuesday in the occupied West Bank city of Nablus.
It later reported that another Palestinian had been killed by Israeli fire, this time in Ramallah, home to the headquarters of Mahmoud Abbas’ Palestinian Authority in the central West Bank.
One of the men who died was unarmed, according to Palestinian health and security officials.
It isn’t until five paragraphs down that readers are given any indication as to the circumstances surrounding the Palestinian deaths.
The Israeli army confirmed in a joint statement with police and intelligence agencies that they had conducted a large-scale night operation in Nablus, raiding a “hideout apartment … that was used as a headquarters and explosives manufacturing site”.
“The site was used by the main operatives of the ‘Lion’s Den’ terrorist group,” the statement said, referring to a new group of young Palestinian fighters who have carried out anti-Israeli operations in Nablus in recent weeks.
“During the activity, multiple armed suspects were hit and Palestinian reports indicate that were multiple injuries.”
The term used by the Guardian to refer to Lion’s Den terror attacks, “Anti-Israeli operations”, is the same term, CAMERA Arabic informed us, consistently used in Arabic (‘Amaliya or ‘Amaliyya, عملية) by terrorist groups themselves when referring to terrorist attacks.
Moreover, the Guardian omits that one of the Palestinians killed in the IDF raid, Wadee al-Houh, was a senior and founding member of Lion’s Den, reportedly led the group, was responsible for many attacks and was the main target of the operation.
الشهيد حبيب الله.. الشهيد عند الله
إستشهاد القائد الميداني في #عرين_الأسود وديع الحوح
ولا حول ولا قوة الا بالله
إنا لله وإنا إليه راجعون pic.twitter.com/Ofy7TDWhhd— رضا ياسين 🇵🇸 (@RedaYasen2021) October 25, 2022
Further, according to Times of Israel, Palestinian media outlets, and Lion’s Den itself, the other men killed in the operation were members of Al-Houh’s terror group – another important fact omitted by the Guardian.
Lion's Den finally got around to publishing a statement (albeit a brief one) regarding its members (and leader Wadee al-Houh) killed during this morning's Israeli raid in Nablus. It also vows revenge. pic.twitter.com/NLpxRWu2DP
— Emanuel (Mannie) Fabian (@manniefabian) October 25, 2022
Finally, the Guardian makes the following claim:
The IDF says Palestinian gun attacks targeting Israeli settlers and the military have risen threefold compared with last year, putting the number at 170 by September.
We have an inquiry out with the IDF, as we’re skeptical that the attacks on civilians cited by the IDF related narrowly to “settlers“, as it seems unlikely the army would distinguish between Israeli victims who live on different sides of the green line.
So, to recap:
- Guardian waits until five paragraphs down to inform readers that the Palestinians in question were killed during a raid on a terror bomb factory.
- Guardian obfuscates the fact that most or all of those killed were terrorists – one of whom was the leader of the group whose bomb factory was targeted.
- Guardian uses grossly misleading euphemism “anti-Israeli operations” to refer to terrorist attacks.
- Guardian cites unlikely IDF characterisation of Israeli terror victims, purportedly distinguishing “settlers” from other Israelis.
We’ll be complaining to Guardian editors about these serious omissions and errors.
One can only GROAN at the poor reporting of the GRAUNIAD, where black is white and the terrorist is a freedom fighter and Jews have no right to defend themselves from attack by terrorists even in their own country.