Palestinian bias in the media

After receiving an email from someone critiquing my previous post about Hamas and its participation in mainstream politics, I felt it was necessary, for the sake of fairness, to point out that sources like the BBC have been repeatedly found to be bias and inaccurate in favor of the Palestinians. Although I respect the outlet as a fairly reputable source for international news, I was perhaps wrong to include excerpts from it on such a touchy subject as the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The purpose of my previous post, I suppose, was to find the "bright side" of Hamas' statement, as reported by CNN. However, I did not mean in any way to show favor towards the cause of Hamas, which I find to be very extremist and bigoted in nature.

Just to emphasize my point, I would like to share a couple of links that may be of interest to those wishing to get the straight scoop about some of the things going on in Israel.

Honestreporting.com is a hotbed of stories of bias in the Western media against Israel. Within that site, for example, there are a number of instances where the French and British media, the AFP and BBC respectively, have committed blatant errors in their reporting that could be taken as a sign of bias. Here is an interesting excerpt from the site:

On Feb. 14, a Palestinian in Hebron tried to stab an IDF soldier, but was shot and killed before he could do so.

Agence France-Presse (AFP) released this photo (at left) of the scene, with the following caption:

An Israeli soldier walks next to the body of a Palestinian who was shot dead by Israeli troops close to the Tomb of the Patriarchs in Hebron. Israel handed over the remains of 15 militants shot dead by the army during attempted attacks in the Gaza Strip as part of a series of goodwill gestures towards the Palestinians.

The AFP caption omits the essential context of this scene ― the pictured man had attempted to stab the IDF soldier, who then shot in self-defense. The effect is to suggest that the IDF killed the Palestinian man for no reason.

The photo really gives the effect that the Palestinian that was shot was indeed a victim of a senseless murder, as opposed to an act of self-defense by the IDF soldier.

Another major source of news that I have been made aware of is the Jerusalem Post. Although considered liberal by most Israelis, it could probably be passed off as conservative by mainstream Western media standards. Nevertheless, I will try to include a broader range of sources in further posts so as to maintain as accurate and objective an atmosphere as I can on this blog.