Tuesday, June 1, 2010

Article: Israeli ship raid sparks furor

This article by Edmund Sanders was a shorter version of an article "Israel criticized over raid on Gaza flotilla" available at www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-israel-clash-20100601,0,7304478.story.

Misleading, Omission, Half-Truths: "Israel faced a global diplomatic firestorm Monday over its deadly raid against a protest flotilla carrying humanitarian aid that was attempting to break through an Israeli blockade of the Gaza Strip."

This was the start of the article, making it appear as if Israel planned a deadly raid. It omitted the highly relevant fact that the main "weapon" the Israelis brandished were paintball guns and nothing became deadly until the Israelis were attacked. It also omits mentioning that Egypt also controls access to Gaza.

The article also fails to give any Israeli perspective until the third paragraph.

Misleading: The article inaccurately states Israeli commandos "immediately clashed with activists on board" after rappelling onto the ship. Actually, the Israelis were immediately attacked.

Omission: The article never points out that the diversion of five of the six ships in the flotilla was done without any injuries, thus discouraging intelligent people from coming to the obvious inference that the deaths and injuries were part of a deliberate plan by the flotilla organizers.

Lack of Balance: The article reports "U.S. officials expressed regret at the loss of life in the raid but stopped short of criticizing Israel until full details of the incident were released." This implies Israel was deserving of criticism and the activists who incited the violence weren't.

Ratings

Factual Accuracy: 9
Bias-Free: 5
Pro-Israel: 0
Anti-Israel: 8

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