The photo accompanying an article in The Independent by Bethan McKernan (Palestinians continue protest at Jerusalem holy site despite Israeli attempts to diffuse Temple Mount crisis, July 26th) seems, at first glance, straight forward enough. In fact, it seems extremely unlikely most readers would pay much attention to it, putatively illustrating Palestinian women peacefully praying near the Temple Mount compound.
However, there’s so much more than meets the eye. Though most of the women may have been peacefully praying, others were engaged in a far different pursuit, as we can see by this video tweeted by Times of Israel reporter Raoul Wootliff
Muslim women from the outlawed Muribitat group chatting "With our blood and our souls we will redeem Al-Aqsa" outside Temple Mount entrance pic.twitter.com/k0KqUsER97
— Raoul Wootliff (@RaoulWootliff) July 25, 2017
The women shown inciting to violence (“with blood” they “will redeem Al-Aqsa”) clearly appear to be the same group of women depicted in the Indy photo. In fact, you can see one of the inciters shown in the clip (women with a pink scarf) in the far left of the photo.
As Wootliff noted, the Muribitat group was outlawed in 2015 for inciting violence on the Temple Mount, and is associated with the northern branch of the Islamic Movement of Israel, led by antisemitic extremist Raed Salah and banned for ties to terrorism.
However, this isn’t merely one misleading photo, but arguably a microcosm of the media’s coverage of the recent violence in Jerusalem and the West Bank. In the days since the initial Temple Mount terror attack, UK media outlets have not only risibly framed the story as an outbreak of violence caused by ‘incendiary‘ Israeli security measures, but have also failed to mention the ongoing incitement over Al-Aqsa (despite ample and easily attainable evidence), other than when citing Israeli “claims”.
Of course, the media almost never allude to the fact that calls by Palestinian leaders to defend an “endangered” mosque that is not in fact endangered have been a rallying cry for violence against Jews for over 100 years – that is, decades before Israel’s birth.
The misleading Indy photo purporting to depict ‘peaceful worshipers’ is just one more example of the media’s continuing obfuscation of the central role played by Palestinian incitement in fueling violence – an ongoing lie by omission which profoundly distorts news consumers’ image of the conflict.
Related Articles
- UK media frame Palestinian murder of Jews in Halamish into a ‘clash’ over metal detectors (UK Media Watch)