Israel responsible for breaking Gaza cease-fire BBC suggests

Just Journalism
The Wire
Mon. 28 Mar. 2011 @ 13.49 –

http://justjournalism.com/the-wire/bbc-suggests-israel-responsible-for-breaking-gaza-cease-fire/

Israeli air strike on Islamic Jihad members allegedly preparing to launch rockets described by BBC as ‘blow to those calling for calm’.

Following a week of continuing violence along the Israel-Gaza border, which has seen both rocket fire from Islamist militants as well as retaliatory strikes from Israel, the British media reported on Sunday that Israel had killed two members of Islamic Jihad in Gaza.

The BBC News website’s coverage of the death of the two militants emphasised that the strike threatened to escalate the violence in the region – despite Israel stating that it had targeted the Islamic Jihad members as they prepared to fire rockets, itself a breach of any ceasefire.

‘Israeli air strike kills two militants in northern Gaza’ noted that the attack came a day after ‘militant groups in Hamas-run Gaza’ were reported to have offered Israel a truce. Despite acknowledging Israel’s claim that ‘its strike targeted militants attempting to fire rockets into Israel’, the article nonetheless implied that it was the Israeli strike which had broken the truce:

‘It was not immediately clear whether if Hamas and other militant groups in Gaza would now renege on their pledge [following Israel’s strike].’

The argument that Israel was responsible for any continuation in violence, rather than the Islamic Jihad squad, was made explicit by the BBC’s Jon Donnison:

‘…Sunday’s air strike is a blow to those calling for calm after the recent escalation in violence, the BBC’s Jon Donnison in Gaza reports.’

By way of contrast, the AP’s ‘Israeli jets wipe out jihadist squad’, published today in The Independent, implied that were it correct that the militants were preparing to fire rockets, that act, rather than Israel’s response, would have constituted the initial violation of the cease-fire:

‘Gaza militants, including Islamic Jihad and the territory’s Hamas rulers, had said over the weekend they would halt their fire if Israel did. It was not clear whether they were reneging on that pledge or if the airstrike hit a rogue group of militants ignoring the ceasefire overture.’

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