Israel’s raid on Jenin terrorists: How media perverted the true story

Dear Friend of Israel, Dear Friend of FLAME:

While Israel’s Defense Force (IDF) early this month mounted one of its most aggressive counteroffensives against Palestinian terrorists in years, the media have covered the event with some of their most unrestrained anti-Israel bias ever.

Most mainstream media failed to provide context for the terrorists’ motivation and murderous activities, or for the political reality in Jenin. Even more egregious, the media deprived the public of key facts about the IDF’s strategy for defending its citizens and raiding terrorist strongholds, as well as details on huge arms caches the military discovered in Jenin.

Likewise, few media bothered to explain why the ruling Palestinian Authority (PA) has allowed the Jenin terrorists free rein. They also failed to recognize the IDF’s amazingly successful effort to disrupt Jenin’s terrorist infrastructure in a densely populated residential area without killing a single civilian.

Another key detail lacking in most media coverage was any explanation for why a “refugee camp” even exists 75 years after ancestors of Jenin’s current residents became displaced.

According to the 1951 Refugee Convention, a refugee is “someone who is unable or unwilling to return to their country of origin owing to a well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group, or political opinion.”

The media never point out that most people residing in the Jenin refugee camp were born there—or that the original refugees from 1948 have almost all passed away. Those living in Jenin are refugees because they insist on “returning” to a land they’ve never set foot in. They’re refugees because their Arab neighbors have for 75 years refused to settle them.

In short, the Jenin “refugee camp” is not a refugee camp at all, but rather simply a neighborhood in the city of Jenin—a neighborhood increasingly infested with terrorists. Like their terrorist brethren in other parts of Judea and Samaria and the Gaza Strip, the gangs of Jenin have one goal—the destruction of Israel.

Notwithstanding, the media disingenuously declare the goal of the terrorists to be “resistance against Israeli occupation.” The Washington Post, for example, called the Jenin refugee camp “a hub of Palestinian resistance.”

But the Post and other media outlets fail to explain that the goal of this “resistance” is the destruction of Israel, which the terrorists believe illegally “occupies” their land. In fact they claim all territory from the Mediterranean Sea to the Jordan River—the entire Jewish state, plus Judea and Samaria (the West Bank). The media also fail to mention that the terrorists’ strategy is the murder of innocent Israeli citizens .

Another act of journalistic malfeasance is the media’s failure to point out that according to the Oslo Accords, responsibility for security in Jenin belongs solely to the PA, which has completely lost control of the city. This forces Israel, in self-defense, to clean up Jenin’s proliferating nest of terrorism.

You also won’t hear on CNN or read in the New York Times of Iran’s increasing funding and influence on Palestinians terrorist organizations. Iran’s interloper role is no secret: Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ), one Iran’s terrorist client groups, recently confirmed the Islamic Republic is arming terrorists in Judea and Samaria.

Some months ago, the PIJ’s secretary-general, Ziyad al-Nakhalah, said, “The weapons that the Palestinians use for fighting come from Iran—the Iranians either pay for these weapons or provide them.” Thus, it’s clear—but virtually unmentioned in most media—that Iran is attempting to form another front against Israel in Judea and Samaria, just as it has already done in Lebanon, Syria and the Gaza Strip.

The IDF launched the counterterrorism operation in the Jenin camp in response to a recent wave of terrorism that has so far killed 28 Israelis, almost all civilians. Unsurprisingly though, many major media described Israel’s actions as malevolent. Reuters news service and MSNBC described an Israeli “attack” on Jenin. PBS reporter Leila Molana-Allen reported the operation as if the IDF were indiscriminately killing anything that moved. She spoke of missiles raining down and blood being “washed from the floor.”

The truth is, the IDF took great care to target only terrorists and not civilians. The IDF sent infantry troops into the streets of the Jenin camp rather than relying on the massive artillery and airpower at its disposal, putting its own soldiers at risk to minimize civilian casualties. The IDF even sent text messages to the camp’s residents to warn them of combat operations.

In fact, the IDF performed one of the most successful surgical raids on terrorist headquarters in military history. They discovered and destroyed weapon- and bomb-making facilities, killed 12 terrorists and arrested about 150 terrorist suspects. Israeli forces even found one arsenal under a mosque—a place of worship turned into a terrorist hideout. Total number of civilian fatalities: Zero.

Yet, media have accused Israel of senselessly killing innocent Palestinians. For example, while interviewing former Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, BBC anchor Anjana Gadgil had the chutzpah to say, “The Israeli forces are happy to kill children,” even after Bennett correctly pointed out that all the Palestinians killed by the IDF were terrorists. International law holds that a combatant actively engaged in warfare is a combatant regardless of age. The BBC later apologized.

The media and international community were egregiously irresponsible in reporting the Jenin raid. In the service of anti-Israel sentiment bordering on antisemitism, they hid critical facts, twisted the truth and failed to provide a balanced analysis of the issues surrounding the complex situation in Jenin.

Please make the point when speaking with family, friends, colleagues—or in letters to the editor—that no other country in the world tolerates the cold-blooded murder of its citizens by terrorists, nor does any other country in the world take the kind of care to avoid civilian casualties in its fight against terrorism that Israel does. It’s pathetic—and a malfeasant disservice to their customers—that the media refuse to tell these truths.

I hope you’ll also take a minute, while you have this material front and center, to forward this message to friends, visit FLAME’s lively Facebook page and review the P.S. immediately below. It describes FLAME’s new hasbarah campaign—“Can Biden’s Plan Beat Antisemitism?”—which boldly challenges the Administration to use its new Strategy to Counter Antisemitism courageously, prosecuting and condemning all antisemitism from every corner of American society —including Congressional members, ethnic studies programs, and attacks on Jews by minority groups.

Best regards,
James Sinkinson, President
Facts and Logic About the Middle East (FLAME))

P.S.

You’ve surely seen headlines describing skyrocketing attacks on Jews in recent years and months—and you probably heard about the President’s new National Strategy to Counter Antisemitism. But all evidence indicates that the Administration is not committed to fighting antisemites among its own voters and party officials. I hope you’ll agree that we opponents of antisemitism across all sectors of American society need to speak out. FLAME’s new hasbarah—explanatory message—“Can Biden’s Plan Beat Antisemitism?”—enumerates some of the antisemitic offenders most damaging to American Jews . . . and most likely to be ignored by the Administration. I hope you’ll review this convincing, fact-based editorial, which FLAME intends to publish in the Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, New York Post, Chicago Tribune, Houston Chronicle, Star Tribune and Los Angeles Times. This piece will also be sent to all members of Congress, Vice President Harris and President Biden. If you agree that this kind of public relations effort on Israel’s behalf is critical, I urge you to support us. As of today, more than 15,000 Israel supporters receive the FLAME Hotline at no charge every week. If you’re not yet a subscriber, won’t you join us in receiving these timely updates, so you can more effectively tell the truth about Israel? Just go to free subscription.