Militants stand during the funeral of two Palestinian Islamic Jihad gunmen who were killed in an Israeli raid, in Jenin refugee camp, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank May 10, 2023. Photo: REUTERS/Raneen Sawafta

In summing up last week’s West Bank violence, both the Associated Press and The Guardian are just two of the media outlets that compared the casualty figures for both Israelis and Palestinians, effectively creating a moral equivalence between the two.

This equivalence is flawed, however, as it does not take into account the fact that all Israelis killed last week were civilians, while more than 70% of the Palestinians killed were members of internationally recognized terror groups, and/or engaged in violence against Israeli civilians and security forces at the time of their deaths.

The Israeli Casualties

Last week’ four Israeli casualties, ranging in age between 17 and 64, were killed during a Palestinian terror attack at a restaurant and gas station outside the Jewish community of Eli in the northern West Bank.

The Palestinian Casualties

Last week, 16 Palestinians were killed by Israelis during seven separate incidents. Of these, 12 were members of terrorist organizations and/or engaged in anti-Israel violence:

• June 19: Seven Palestinians were killed during an extended gunfight in Jenin between Israeli security personnel and members of Palestinian terror groups following an Israeli counter-terrorism arrest operation. Of the seven Palestinians killed, three were members of Islamic Jihad, one was a member of Al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades, and three were civilians.
• June 19: A Palestinian man was shot and killed by the IDF after throwing a Molotov cocktail at Israeli troops during clashes in Husan, near Bethlehem.
• June 20: The two Palestinian terrorists from the Eli attack were killed. Both members of Hamas, one was killed at the scene by an armed civilian, while the other was killed by Israeli forces hours after fleeing the scene.
• June 21: One Palestinian civilian was killed during a rampage by Israeli settlers in the town of Turmus Ayaa.
• June 21: Three Palestinians were killed by a drone strike after fleeing the scene of an attack on an IDF post. Two were members of the Jenin Battalion, while the third was a member of the Al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades.
• June 23: A member of the Al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades was shot during clashes with Israeli security forces in Nablus. He died the next day.
• June 24: One Palestinian was killed after opening fire on Israeli forces at the Qalandiya checkpoint, north of Jerusalem.

When mainstream news organizations compare the number of Israelis and Palestinians killed during the latest West Bank violence without detailing the number of Palestinians killed who were members of terrorist organizations and/or taking part in anti-Israel violence, they effectively equate the latter with innocent civilians.

This not only fails to meet appropriate journalistic standards, but also does a disservice to their audience by failing to properly inform them as to the true nature of the statistics that they are publishing.