Israel Matzav

New York Times reporter fooled by Hamas

New York Times reporter David Carr believed that two 'Palestinians' who were killed in Operation Pillar of Defense whose car said "TV" on it really were members of the media. The truth was far different.

The report, sensationally titled “Using War as Cover to Target Journalists,” contains serious factual errors that render the accusation that Israel “targets journalists” false. The Times reports:

Mahmoud al-Kumi and Hussam Salama worked as cameramen for Al-Aqsa TV, which is run by Hamas and whose reporting frequently reflects that affiliation. They were covering events in central Gaza when a missile struck their car, which, according to Al-Aqsa, was clearly marked with the letters “TV.”

Yet al-Kumi and Salama were not journalists—in fact, they had spray-painted “TV” on their car in an attempt to disguise themselves as journalists and thereby prevent the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) from firing on them. The disguise didn’t fool anyone except for David Carr and the New York Times. Who in fact were they?

Muhammed Shamalah, commander of Hamas forces in the southern Strip and head of the Hamas militant training programs, was targeted by an Israeli air strike while driving a car clearly labelled [sic] “TV”, indicating it to be a press vehicle, abusing the protection afforded to journalists.

(Free Beacon sources confirmed that Shamalah and Salama are the same person, despite the different spellings of the name.)

Instead of condemning Hamas for attempting to pass off terrorists as journalists, Carr promotes the ploy and condemns the IDF for killing terrorists he thinks were journalists—despite ample evidence of their real profession.

Read the whole thing. 

Labels: anti-Israel media bias, Gaza, Operation Pillar of Defense

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 3:30 AM