Well, according to many major news headlines, because of Israel. But why?
NYTimes:
While the cause of the blast was not clear, Khaled al-Batsh, another Islamic Jihad leader, claimed it was either an Israeli airstrike or a bomb detonated by remote control, Agence France-Presse reported.FoxNews:
Islamic Jihad said Israel killed Dahdouh in a missile attack after failing to kill him nine times before.Yes, let's give credence to the views of a terrorist outfit known for fabricating stories.* Both Israel's statements and actual eyewitness reports, along with evidence, prove that Islamic Jihad is lying through their teeth yet again:
The Israeli military, which carries out pinpointed attacks against militants in the coastal strip, said it was not involved in the death of rocketmaker Khaled Dahdouh. And the Palestinian Interior Ministry said no missile parts were found in the incinerated car.It's a bit difficult to have a missile attack without a missile, isn't it? Furthermore...
However, the Israeli military, which regularly acknowledges killing Palestinian militants, said it had nothing to do with the blast, which left a white sedan scorched and mangled.If Israel were responsible, they would take responsibility. They only gain by doing so - convincing more Israelis that they are handling terrorists properly. Even people who saw the blast never said anything about a missile:
So why did so many news organizations blow it? It's not as if there was ever any substantive reason to think that the Islamic Jihad claim was true - but so many headline writers (headlines are generally written by individual news media, as opposed to the AP, Reuters, or AFP) chose to pick Israel as the culprit.A witness, Ahmed Abdel Khalouk, said he was sitting about 100 yards from Dahdouh's car, which was parked at a speed bump, when he saw a large man walk over to it and open the driver's door.
"There was a huge ball of fire, and debris from the car covered the entire area," he said. "I think the car was booby-trapped."
Bias is disgusting. So is irresponsibility. This was either one or the other.
* NOTE: The Times and FoxNews both did an excellent job of reporting this story; it is other news media with which I am upset.
Technorati tags: Israel, Palestinians, Islamic Jihad, Media Bias, Assassination.
To be honest, I'm not sure you can call bias on this one.
ReplyDeleteThere two basic scenarios I can think of:
1) Al-Batsh was killed by a rival Palestinian faction or a rival in his own organization. Given the current unrest, both are pretty plausible.
2) The Israelis do not want to reveal a new intellegence source or method of assasination.
If this really was a boobytrap, it sound like al-Batsh had some serious orginizational problems. This cuts two ways and makes the both scnerios equally credible- someone in his orginzation was an informant either for the Israelis or for another faction.
But we really have no idea and probably never will.
That's not what I mean: They specifically labelled it as a "missile attack" in half the reports, despite clear evidence that this did not happen. And regardless of what may have happened, the headline is simply irresponsible: There is no reason to believe the Islamic Jihad over Israel, particularly given past statements.
ReplyDeleteMaskim
ReplyDeleteLet's not worry about who did it. Let's just rejoice. And just in time for Purim!
ReplyDeleteJF - Good idea!! :)
ReplyDelete"Goyim kill goyim and they blame the Jew" -Menachem Begin
ReplyDelete