Foreign media are reporting without question another Palestinian Authority story of a death of an elderly man – instead of the usual pregnant woman, toddler or mentally disturbed person – at the hands of the IDF, which was operating in the area of Kalkilya, located between western Samaria communities and the metropolitan Tel Aviv city of Kfar Saba.
A military spokeswoman told The Jewish Press that the IDF still is looking into the report. She confirmed there was activity in the areas and there was a report of a riot. The Israeli military usually does not enter Palestinian Authority villages unless there is a threat to Jewish motorists or unless it needs to arrest a terrorist cell.
The problem with these stories is that the IDF is thorough is in its investigation and does not immediately deny a report just for the sake of propaganda. Thursday’s claim by the Palestinian Authority could be true, but if it turns out that the 85-year-old man indeed died but without any connection to IDF activity, the damage will be too late to correct. It would not be the first time that the PA blamed Israel for the death of someone who died of natural causes or in a domestic accident.
With U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry scheduled to arrive in Israel in the late afternoon, these kinds of reports are just what Mahmoud Abbas ordered – ammunition for the ready-made anti-Israeli propaganda media machine.
The Palestinian Authority’s official WAFA news agency, which is freely cited by foreign reporters despite its frequent fabrication of incidents, told readers that the man died after inhaling tear gas when the IDF fired canisters that landed inside his home.
The local Arabs were staging a ”march,” according to WAFA, a “rally” according to the Bethlehem-based Ma’an News Agency. Both terms usually would be described as a riot except for those who think “resistance” is not violence.
The March, or rally, or riot, was “organized to mark 49 years for the launch of the Palestinian revolution against Israel, said witnesses,” according to WAFA.
The “Palestinian revolution against Israel” refers to the founding of the Fatah terrorist organization by Yasser Arafat.