Reporters also might have pointed out that a UN estimate two years ago of non-combatant casualties in Afghanistan and Iraq involving U.S. and coalition forces ranged from 3:1 to 4:1, respectively.
But no. As former Associated Press reporter Matti Friedman has pointed out, journalists widely conceive the Israeli-Palestinian conflict as a morality play in which evil Israel oppresses innocent “Palestine.” News to the contrary –including bloody anti-Jewish incitement not just by Hamas in the Gaza Strip but also by Palestinian Authority agencies in the West Bank, and ceaseless Palestinian terrorist attacks or attempted attacks – barely counts.
Maybe media failures to report Abbas’s statehood bid in context validate Friedman’s premise. It appears to confirm that Palestinian violations of international agreements, especially when they undermine Israeli positions, simply don’t qualify as news.
