German Media Bias Cited in Coverage of Palestinian Terror

Israeli officials have joined media watchdogs and private citizens in decrying media bias in coverage of the current wave of Palestinian terror.

In a press briefing in Yerushalayim on Wednesday, Yuval Steinitz, Israel’s Energy Minister and a Security Cabinet member, lashed out at the international double standard, according to an Arutz Sheva report.

“Israelis cannot understand” why it is that “when Islamic zealots are killing Christians or others in Paris or London or Ankara, shouting Alla-u akbar,” the media condemns it as barbaric terror; but “when Jews are stabbed in Israel, and in all cases the terrorist shouted Alla-u akbar…exactly the same slogan, suddenly it’s not terrorism anymore” in the world media’s eyes.

Steinitz noted that various means of justification have been given for the terrorism in Israel, calling it “violence,” or saying that it “has to do with frustration. It seems some in the West … give some kind of legitimacy” to it.

The Israeli embassy in Berlin on Monday published a broadside against a German-language media organization for biased reporting on the Palestinian terrorism rocking Israel, The Jerusalem Post said.

“We find again new examples of bias in the German- language media. Many angry readers in these days sent the Israeli Embassy in Berlin examples,” the diplomats wrote in Berlin.

The embassy cited the Austrian Broadcasting (ORF), which reported, “Five Palestinians killed by new violence in Middle East,” without saying that they were killed by security forces while perpetrating violence against Israelis.

The Rheinische Post referred to “Jewish acts of revenge” in a recent headline.

German public radio (Deutschlandfunk) aired a segment that contends, “Israel’s society brutalizes, because it is shaped from its own military, an occupation army, whose soldiers with increasing brutality act against stone-throwers.”

The media watchdog Honest Reporting criticized the Wall Street Journal’s reporting earlier this week for repeatedly describing the Palestinian attacks as “alleged,” despite hundreds of eyewitnesses and ample video documentation.

The WSJ was also taken to task for interviewing Palestinian spokesmen while failing to balance it with Israeli comment.

Noting “the WSJ’s traditionally sympathetic and balanced journalism towards Israel, it’s a nasty surprise that this article got past the editors and into print,” concluded Honest Reporting.

Other news organizations cited for anti-Israel bias in recent days included the Sydney Morning Herald, which ran a story endorsing the argument made by U.N. Secretary General Ban ki-Moon this week that Israelis have reacted with disproportionate force against Palestinians carrying out terror attacks.

CNN, The Irish Times and the UK’s Daily Mail were also accused of distorted coverage.

This article appeared in print on page 7 of the October 15th, 2015 edition of Hamodia.