In the early hours of March 12th (Israel time) a report by George Wright appeared on the BBC News website’s ‘Middle East’ page under the headline ‘Israel sees one of its biggest-ever protests’.
Some ten hours later that report was updated to include the following:
“In a separate development, Israeli troops shot dead three armed Palestinians near the West Bank city of Nablus on Sunday, the Israeli army said. It said the gunmen had fired at an Israeli army post.
Palestinian officials have not commented on the incident. There has been a marked surge in violence between Palestinians and Israel in recent months.”
That link leads readers to a BBC backgrounder which was previously discussed here.
In fact, by the time that amendment was made the local media had reported that Palestinian Authority officials had indeed “commented”. [emphasis added]
“Israeli soldiers came under fire by Palestinian gunmen early Sunday morning in the northern West Bank, responding with gunfire that killed three assailants, the military and Palestinian health officials said.
The Israel Defense Forces said in a statement that the shots had been fired toward a military post near Jit, west of Nablus, where troops of the Golani Brigade’s Reconnaissance Battalion were stationed during “proactive activity.”
The soldiers returned fire, “neutralizing” three of the Palestinian assailants, the IDF said.
The Palestinian Authority health ministry said they were notified of their deaths, indicating the attackers’ bodies had been taken by the army. […]
The slain gunmen were later named by the ministry as Jihad Mohammad Shami, 24, Udai Othman Shami, 22, and Mohammad Ra’ed Dabek, 18, The arrested man was named as Ibrahim Awartani.”
As noted in that Times of Israel report and by additional local media outlets, the three were claimed by the Lions’ Den terror group as its members. The Jerusalem Post reported that:
“The Lions’ Den stated that members of the group were monitoring the soldiers and attempted to ambush them, leading to the clash. The group warned that “the series of revenge operations continues, and now you only have to prepare for a new wave of our signature operations of our lone wolves in the Lions’ Den.””
In other words, not only the Israeli army “said” that the gunmen had shot at soldiers as claimed in the BBC’s report: the terror group to which they belonged confirmed that statement.
Nevertheless, the BBC’s brief portrayal of that incident makes no mention of the affiliations of those “armed Palestinians”, meaning that once again terrorist organisations are airbrushed out of the picture provided to BBC audiences.
Related Articles:
AN UNHELPFUL BBC BACKGROUNDER ON ‘ISRAELI-PALESTINIAN VIOLENCE’