Newspaper Edits Out Palestinian Violence From AP Story on Temple Mount Clashes
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by Adam Levick
Israeli police clash with Palestinian worshippers on the compound known to Muslims as Noble Sanctuary and to Jews as Temple Mount as Muslims mark Eid al-Adha, in Jerusalem’s Old City August 11, 2019. Photo: REUTERS/Ammar Awad.
On August 11th, The Guardian published an Associated Press article on clashes that day on the Temple Mount, which were instigated by rioting Muslim worshipers objecting to a small number of Jews who were initially allowed to visit their faith’s holiest site. (Sunday marked both the start of the Islamic holiday of Eid al-Adha and the Jewish fast day of Tisha B’Av.)
According to reports, dozens of Muslim worshipers were injured during the clashes, as well as four Israeli police officers.
There’s no question that the Muslim worshipers were responsible for the violence, as the original AP report explained:
Large numbers of Palestinians had gathered at the gates of the compound early Sunday after rumors circulated that police would allow Jewish visitors to enter the site. The protesters chanted “Allahu Akbar” (God is greatest) and threw stones at police, who then charged into the compound while firing stun grenades and rubber-coated bullets.
However, The Guardian‘s version of the AP report just so happened to omit that key paragraph on the riot’s cause — leaving readers with no information on why exactly the Israeli police “clashed” with Muslim worshipers.
In fact, other than The Guardian, every news outlet we surveyed that published a version of the same AP report included that original paragraph, noting the Palestinian violence that caused the clashes on Sunday — providing another example of how The Guardian routinely omits important facts in order to obfuscate Palestinian culpability.
UPDATE: In response to this column, The Guardian agreed to reinstate the mention of Palestinian violence. But how those facts were ever excluded in the first place is the true story.
Adam Levick covers the British media for CAMERA, the 65,000-member, Boston-based Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting in America.
