In what could have been a repeat tragedy of the Netanya massacre five years ago –in which 30 people were murdered while enjoying their Passover supper– a Palestinian terrorist attack was averted as the driver of the would be terrorist car bomb, suddenly turned around and headed back to the West Bank town of Qalqilya.
According to the Israeli Prime Ministers office: “Nineteen Hamas terrorists from Kalkilya were arrested last month in a joint ISA-IDF operation. They were planning to explode a vehicle laden with approximately 100 kg. of explosives in the greater Tel Aviv area during Passover.
Jerusalem Post reports it like this: “Security forces recently arrested 19 terror operatives from Kalkilya on suspicion of planning the suicide car bomb attack and other major operations, the Shin Bet said. “
How does Finland’s state news agency YLE report it?
“Israel: Palestiinalaismilitantit olivat iskeä Tel Aviviin. Israelin turvallisuusviranomaiset kertovat pidättäneensä 19 palestiinalaistaistelijaa, jotka suunnittelivat suurta autopommi-iskua Tel Aviviin kaksi viikkoa sitten. /
“Israel: Palestinian militants were going to strike in Tel Aviv. Israeli security forces said they have arrested 19 Palestinian fighters, who were planing a huge car bomb strike in Tel Aviv two weeks ago.”
Finland’s YLE –which is supposedly quoting a Shin Bet press release– deletes the offensive word, “terrorist” in favor of a more politically correct version….”fighters”. This is of course was supposed to be a direct quote, which is supposed to contain the very same words used by the person/organization being quoted.
I took the liberty in calling the office of YLE, and spoke with a Marjo Ahonen, who appeared oblivious to what I was referring to.
MA: Oh, you mean (he he) that we were to write that they were terrorists….?
KGS: Eh no, if your intention was to quote an Israeli source, then you’re to quote exactly what they said, which was: “Nineteen Hamas terrorists from Kalkilya were arrested last month in a joint ISA-IDF operation. ” Your journalist substituted the word “terrorists” for “fighters”, but that is not what the Shin Bet press release stated.
MA: Oh (he he) I’ll check with the front desk and see what the situation is….
Well upon checking a little bit later, I found out that Marjo Ahonen sure got the ball rolling and had someone change the report, it now reads “they have arrested 19 Palestinians“. It appears to have been updated at (päivitetty 10.04.2007, klo 15.19). It’s not much of an improvement, with that “slight adjustment” probably being done while holding one’s finger in the mouth.
This is a stark example of how loathe the news media is to use the “T” word, …even in a direct quote. The same news media though, has no problem at all in quoting Palestinians who refer to Israel as an “apartheid state” and are guilty of genocide. *L* KGS
Update: 11/3/07
Both Helsinki’s Helsingin Sanomat and Central Finland’s newspaper, the Keskisuomalianen also pass on the meme that Shin Bet refered to the 19 Palestinians arrested as “Palestinian fighters”, when it really refered to them as Palestinian terrorists. The troubling thing here is, like Finland’s state TV/Radio news agency, YLE, they all stubbornly/blindly cling to the wires services own rendering of the story, that reinvented a quote to fit the wire services’ political-ideological bias. I doubt seriously if the any of the Finnish news outlets mentioned, even bothered to dig up the original press release and read it for themselves.
Al Avai: “Fighters” are those engaged in fighting, in battle. Since when is someone filling a car with explosives aimed at unarmed civilians engaged in battle? The distortion, even if accidental, is very deep. It accepts the notion that all Israelis are legitimate military targets, and that murder of civilians is somehow macho and manly — like the image “fighter” conjures up — a guy, crouched with kefijah covering his face, firing an AK47 bravely at opposing forces. Would have been better if they just called them “activists” ….
