Gulfnews reports on yesterday’s terror attack in Jerusalem, peddling the “car accident” angle.
But notice anything strange about the story?
Israelis ‘killed driver who lost control of car’
Reuters
Published: September 23, 2008, 20:34Occupied Jerusalem: The family of a Palestinian shot dead after his car ploughed into pedestrians in occupied Jerusalem on Tuesday challenged Israeli police allegations that he had carried out a deliberate attack.
More than a dozen soldiers, on a late-night excursion to occupied Jerusalem ahead of the Jewish New Year next week, were injured in Monday’s incident. No Palestinian group has made a credible claim of responsibility.
Police called it a “terrorist” attack, the third of its kind using vehicles against Israelis in the city since July and involving Palestinians from occupied East Jerusalem and its environs who live on Israeli-annexed land and have wide freedom of movement.
Police identified the driver of the black BMW as Qassem Mughrabi, 19, of Jabal Mukhabar, a village in the occupied West Bank.
Mahmoud Mughrabi, 49, his father, said his son did not have a driving licence and apparently lost control of the car.
“My son was murdered, they killed him. He did not carry out a terrorist attack. This was a car accident,” Mughrabi, owner of a trucking business, said.
Shmuel Ben-Ruby, a police spokesman, said the incident was still being treated as an intentional attack and information suggested disappointment over a failed romance might have been the motive.
The strange part is the attribution to Reuters under the headline. Normally, this would indicate that the story’s source is Reuters, and the website in question is carrying the story word-for-word. But I doubt even Reuters would report “occupied” East Jerusalem, or headline the article as above.
Methinks Gulf News has changed the original Reuters wording to fit its own agenda. And I’m willing to bet it’s against Reuters terms of use.
Update: I found the Reuters report, and sure enough, it has a less definitive headline (“Family challenges Israel’s driver attack allegation”) and there is no “occupied” qualifying Jerusalem and East Jerusalem.
