Times omits violence of intifadas after criticising BBC for the same thing

An otherwise commendable Dec. 19 Times article ‘Hamas operative’ behind group organising pro-Palestine marches’”, written by Tom Ball and David Woode, included a grossly misleading characterisation of the word “intifada”.

Intifada is the Arabic word for “rebellion” and refers to Palestinian uprisings against Israeli occupation of the West Bank and Gaza. Some consider the phrase “globalise the intifada” and other variations to be a call to violence against Jews.

Interestingly, a Dec.17 article at the Times, “BBC faces antisemitism accusations over calling intifada ‘popular’”, included – as a rejoinder to the BBC’s grossly inaccurate history of the term “intifada”, which omitted the barbarous violence of the 2nd Intifada, while falsely describing the 1st Intifada as largely “unarmed” – the following accurate history of the term:

While historians often describe the First Intifada as less militarised than later conflicts, it nevertheless involved widespread violence, including stone-throwing, Molotov cocktail attacks, stabbings, shootings and lynchings. About 170 Israelis, both civilians and soldiers, were killed during the uprising, alongside more than 1,000 Palestinians.

The article went on to describe the Second Intifada, which began in September 2000 after a controversial visit by Ariel Sharon, then opposition leader, to a holy site in Jerusalem.

It is sometimes referred to as “al-Aqsa intifada” after the al-Aqsa Mosque in the Haram al-Sharif site, known to Jews as Temple Mount.

The BBC article did not refer to the widespread use of firearms, explosives and suicide attacks during the Second Intifada, in which more than 1,000 Israelis were killed, the majority of them civilians.

We contacted Times editors, asking them to amend the Dec. 19 article to add the same information on the murderous violence of both Palestinian “intifadas” that was included in their Dec. 17th critique of the BBC’s disinformation about the term.