Major media outlets under fire after they described Druze victims of Hezbollah attack on northern Israel simply ‘died,’ while writing that Gaza civilians are ‘killed.’
By World Israel News Staff
Several major foreign media outlets came under fire over the weekend, after they claimed the victims of a terrorist missile attack on northern Israel simply “died,” rather than writing that they had been killed.
Twelve children and youths, ranging in age from 10 to 20, were killed Saturday when an Iranian-made missile launched by the Hezbollah terror organization in southern Lebanon struck a soccer field in the Druze town of Majdal Shams in the northern Golan Heights.
Dozens of other residents were injured in the attack.
In its initial headline Saturday covering the Hezbollah missile attack, CNN wrote that there were at “least 10 dead.”
Later, however, the cable giant changed the headline to include the word “killed.”
Similarly, the BBC published an article with a headline listing the victims as “dead” rather than “killed.”
The headline also described the Golan Heights as being “occupied” by Israel.
Israel extended sovereignty over the strategic plateau in 1981. In 2019, the U.S. recognized the Golan Heights as being part of the State of Israel, a position the Biden administration has not amended.
“Ten dead in rocket attack on Israeli-occupied Golan,” the BBC wrote, declining to mention Hezbollah in the headline.
In reporting on the war against Hamas in the Gaza Strip, the BBC has described fatalities there as being “killed,” rather than dead.”
The inconsistency drew criticism on social media from users who accused the BBC of a double standard.
Andrew Fox, a lecturer at the Royal Military Academy, tweeted: “BBC headline does not mention that the strike in Israel was on a playground and children were killed. Nice cheeky little dig with ‘Israeli-occupied’, too. They frame the other as if this was an ordinary school. Hamas use schools as cover for their fighters.”
Fox called the BBC headline “utterly despicable,” comparing it to another headline also published on Saturday which read: “Israeli strike on Gaza kills 30.”
The BBC later altered the article’s headline to “Israel hits Hezbollah targets after football pitch strike kills 12 young people.”