Euronews’ Anti-Israelism

Euronews, supposedly Europe’s most viewed TV news channel, was quite happy, and indeed quite correct, to associate the words ‘terror’, ‘terrorist’, and ‘terrorism’ with the 22nd March bomb attacks in Belgium. However, such clear language does not feature in Euronews’ often-obsessive coverage of Arab-Paletsinian violence in Israel, which is perhaps unsurprising given the way in which it typically follows a one-sided anti-Israel narrative.

Not only do the words ‘terror’, ‘terrorist’, and ‘terrorism’ rarely occur in anything other than quotes from Israeli officials, some reports actually justify such violence. One example is an article entitled “Gunshots, grenades and anger in Jerusalem”, by Natalie Huet, which covers a day in December 2015 during the so-called ‘Stabbing Intifada’: which features video of the channel’s objectionable 26th December coverage of the same events.

The TV report leads with descriptions of Israeli aggression against a seemingly passive enemy, and continues in the same vein: 

“Outside the walled city, police threw stun grenades and fired rubber bullets to disperse Palestinian protesters.” 

The report fails to qualify why Arab-Palestinian casualties are so high (because they are initiating violence), and incorrectly ascribes the violence as only occurring in the contested territories, with some undercounting of Israeli fatalities: “In three months the violence has killed 20 Israelis and at least 127 Palestinians”, presumably to make the contrast all the more stark.

The report blames the terrorist incidents on Israel, and also advances the libel over the Temple Mount which incited that very violence: 

“The surge in violence has been fueled by increased Jewish presence in areas also revered by Palestinians and frustration over the collapse of peace talks.” 

It has not been shown that there has been a dramatic increases in the number of Jewish people visiting the Temple Mount, which BTW is sacred to Jews as well as Muslims! The inference that Israel is blameworthy for the collapse in peace talks is common albeit obviously untrue, given the record of Arab-Palestinian intransigence at Camp David, Taba, etc. but echoing Abbas’ inciteful sentiment is inexcusable.