NY Daily News Smears Israel as Gazans Riot During Embassy Opening

On Monday, the Trump administration made history with the unveiling of the new US embassy in Jerusalem, implementing the long-delayed 1995 Jerusalem Embassy Act.

The event cemented US recognition, first given by President Donald Trump in a December 6th declaration, of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.

More than 250 Trump administration officials, US lawmakers, and other dignitaries joined the US delegation to Israel for the historic event.

The historic move was overshadowed in much of the foreign news coverage of the day, however, by the violent protests taking place along the Gaza border.

Since March 30th, tens of thousands of rioters have gathered along Israel’s security fence on the Gaza frontier, hurling firebombs and stones at soldiers, placing bombs along the security perimeter, attempting to breach the fence, and even using kites to drop improvised explosive devices and incendiary bombs inside of Israeli territory.

Dubbed the “March of Return”, Hamas leaders in Gaza urged rioters to breach Israel’s security fence and flood into Israel.

Israeli security officials warned Gazans not to approach the border, adding that IDF snipers would target those attempt to damage or breach the fence.

During the subsequent six weeks of riots and attempts to infiltrate Israel, 54 rioters – many known Hamas terrorists – were killed by Israeli security forces.

On Monday the rioting along the border expanded, drawing tens of thousands of Gazans. IDF forces once again opened fire on rioters who approached the fence or attacked Israeli soldiers, resulting in 58 fatalities. An additional 2,000 rioters were wounded.

Many news headlines, however, played down or ignored entirely the violent riots which prompted Israel’s act of self-defense, in some cases even portraying Israel’s defensive actions to protect the border as a ‘slaughter’.

A headline from The Irish Times, for instance, read “Israeli troops kill at least 58 Palestinians in Gaza protests”, with no mention of the violent nature of the protests, or the fact that many of the rioters attacked Israeli soldiers with firebombs and stones.

One headline by The New York Times failed even to mention the word “protests”: “Israel kills 58 and injures over 1,300 by Gunfire at Gaza Border”.

Another New York Times headline seemingly linked the deaths to the embassy opening in Jerusalem: “Israel Kills Dozens at Gaza Border as U.S. Embassy Opens in Jerusalem”.

Yahoo News published an article with a similar headline Tuesday: “Israeli forces kill dozens in Gaza as U.S. Embassy opens in Jerusalem”.

The UK-based Guardian tied Trump directly to the violence with a headline which read “Israel: Trump’s new embassy opens – and dozens are killed”. The headline was later altered to “Israel faces outcry over Gaza killings during Jerusalem embassy protests.”

One headline drew criticism from a senior Fox News reporter.

“Good grief,” tweeted Fox News’ Brit Hume in response to a Daily News front page headline targeting Ivanka Trump over her appearance at the embassy opening ceremony Monday.

Next to a picture of Ivanka smiling at the ceremony, the cover featured an image of Gazans carrying a wounded rioter. Splashed across the page was the headline 

“DADDY’S LITTLE GHOUL: 55 slaughtered in Gaza, but Ivanka all smiles at Jerusalem embassy unveil”.