For reporters covering Gaza, charges of bias overshadow the stories they witness and tell

BY SAM SOKOL, JTA

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Transcribed from the clipping

JERUSALEM (JTA) — Of the more than 60 deaths that occurred during the recent clashes between Israel and Palestinians at the Gaza border, none was as divisive as that of Layla Ghandour. Ghandour, an 8-month-old girl, died after an uncle, himself only 12, brought her to the edge of the protest zone, where she was reported to have inhaled Israeli tear gas.

Palestinians immediately raised Ghandour as a symbol of Israeli oppression, elevating the infant to the status of martyr and blaming the Israeli army for her death. Many Israelis, meanwhile, countered in angry social media posts that it was irresponsible to allow a child into what essentially was a war zone.

Both Hamas and the Israel Defense Forces issued statements, even as reports filtered out that the child had suffered from a pre-existing heart ailment that may have contributed to her untimely death.

Prominent newspapers such as the Los Angeles and New York Times ran long features on Ghandour, probing the circumstances surrounding her death, describing how she had become a symbol and laying out the arguments of both sides.

Others, especially tabloid papers such as Great Britain’s Daily Express and The Sun, didn’t hesitate to take sides, publishing headlines such as “Drones drop lethal canisters” and describing Israeli tear gas agents as “toxic gas.” Ghandour became a pawn in a by-now-familiar game played whenever Israel and the Palestinians clash.

Flareups follow a pattern in which initial impressions — and condemnations — are replaced by a more nuanced understanding of events as more information becomes available.

How this transcription was made

Date confirmed on the page (folio). Filed under the archive’s spelling; the page prints “St Louis Jewish Light”.

Context added by this archive

Liberman is paraphrased, never quoted: ‘Israel took several days to respond, when Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman told reporters that Murtaja, who sold photos to numerous international outlets, was also a member of Hamas who was using his media business as cover to obtain drone footage of IDF positions.

The Washington Post, meanwhile, said that Murtaja had recently been vetted and approved for a U.S. government grant.’ The piece is about press coverage of Gaza and quotes six people — Israeli and American media analysts, watchdog staff and foreign correspondents — but not one Palestinian. Layla Ghandour’s family is not spoken to; Yaser Murtaja’s colleagues are not spoken to.

Worth holding up against the AP and Washington Post clippings in this batch, which do quote Gazans directly.

Cite this clipping

"For reporters covering Gaza, charges of bias overshadow the stories they witness and tell," St. Louis Jewish Light, 30 May 2018, p. 8. Covering Palestine archive, CP-2018-041. https://coveringpalestine.org/archive/cp-2018-041