Terrorism in Israel: The Rest of the Story

According to Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting (FAIR), "it is certainly valid to investigate whether either the Palestinian Authority or Israel have done enough to pursue suspected terrorists or to stop violence under their control," but the New York Times has omitted crucial facts about this latest cycle of violence, even though the paper has reported these facts in the past." The recent suicide bombings by the Palestinian group Hamas were in retaliation for the November 23 assassination of the group's senior West Bank leader, Mahmoud Abu Hanoud. What the Times left out was that Hanoud was in a Palestinian prison until May, when he escaped during an Israeli attack intended to kill him. "Context is critical as people seek a way out of the cycle of Mideast violence," FAIR says. "If the Times reminded readers that the Hamas leader whose killing sparked the recent round of violence was in a Palestinian jail until the Israeli military tried to assassinate him, it would put the contention that the Palestinian Authority bears most of the responsibility for the current strife in a different light."