Potempkin Intifada

Charles Johnson collects recent press pictures of the poor, pressured Palestinians--each staged for the media. The theatre was published as fact by photographers from AP, AFP and Reuters (other Reuters source). The Reuters caption began, "Palestinian gunmen take up positions during clashes with Israeli troops . . . "

Nonsense. Obviously, were these terrorists, cat footing in plain view, actually under fire from the IDF, they -- and the photographers -- would be dead. The photos aren't doctored--they're staged. That's why three wire services distributed essentially identical pics--because they were invited to film a planned event, out of harm's way. It's as if the media published auto show snapshots claiming it was Daytona.

This shouldn't be news--most photos of Palestinians battling Israeli troops are phony (examples here, here and here). Other pics have captions that are invented (and inverted) or omit salient facts (scroll down). Some are out of context, showing only Israeli reaction, not terrorist provocation. Others still are flatly false, resulting in libel verdicts. Most famously, an Israeli army cameraman recorded a local Fatah leader saying (scroll down): "Don't start the stoning yet. I have just been told that CNN crew is stuck in traffic near Ramallah."

What's behind pro-Palestinian bias in the MSM? First, though Israel has a free press, the PA does not; it strictly limits media access so as to promote its view. Second, the PA often forces the press to hire government employees to report or film the news, a fact rarely disclosed. Finally, many reporters, particularly Europeans, are anti-Israel and reprint PA press releases without acknowledging the other side or fact-checking.

Remember this next time you open the Times.

(via Little Green Footballs)