A general view picture shows part of Givat Hamatos, an area near eastern Jerusalem, November 15, 2020. Photo: REUTERS/Ronen Zvulun.

Introducing its February 15 report about “the latest cycle of violence [sic] and protests” in Israel and the West Bank, ABC News highlighted foreign correspondent James Longman’s conversations with “families on both sides of the Israeli-Palestinian divide.”

However, throughout the 10-minute ABC segment, entitled “Tensions rise in Israel amid growing protests and violence,” Longman eschewed even the pretense of journalistic objectivity, shamelessly promoting a pro-Palestinian version of events in which the facts are clearly subordinate to the narrative.

Longman’s bias is apparent from the get-go, when he introduces a Palestinian family from eastern Jerusalem whose house was demolished by Israeli authorities because it lacked the proper building permits:

I mean, look, there’s some of their toys. And you can see up there, in what was their room, you can see posters of the kids, she’s got school photographs up there. And the Israelis say they want to speed up this process. There are 800 homes in just this area of east Jerusalem alone which don’t have the right permits. So this could just be the beginning.

While Longman attributes the demolitions to the rise of Israel’s “most hardline [government] in the country’s history,” it is crucial to note that virtually all modern locales in the world require government approval before building, and governments around the globe commonly demolish non-permitted construction.

Even if someone, like Longman, considers part of Israel’s capital city “occupied territory,” the Jewish state is permitted to undertake activities generally undertaken by state authorities, whether it be in the social, economic, or commercial sphere, as a French Court of Appeals recognized in a 2013 ruling. Furthermore, Palestinians living in eastern Jerusalem have the right to petition Israel’s High Court, which often freezes demolition orders for years while the parties negotiate a compromise.

Longman also failed to inform the public of the context surrounding recent events in the holy city. Even as his interview subject explicitly threatens more “resistance” in response to purported Israeli “escalations” — a Palestinian euphemism for terror attacks against civilians — the ABC correspondent only mentions Palestinian violence after the three-minute mark.

.@JamesAALongman doesn’t even pretend to be objective in a report introduced by @ABCNewsLive as “exploring what’s driving the latest cycle of violence & protest.”

Note: It’s not a “cycle of violence” when Palestinians initiate terror & Israel responds.

Here’s more bias:? https://t.co/cff7Aj5QVA

— HonestReporting (@HonestReporting) February 16, 2023

Let’s set the scene with a child’s toy conveniently located on the rubble of an illegally built Palestinian house, guaranteed to provoke a sympathetic and emotional response from the audience. pic.twitter.com/TSDv7T6dQA

— HonestReporting (@HonestReporting) February 16, 2023

“You can see the Israeli security onsite.”

While this is presented with a sinister tone, Israeli security is necessary to prevent Palestinian violence at the scene. pic.twitter.com/RcHS5XN8eT

— HonestReporting (@HonestReporting) February 16, 2023

The video also includes other omissions and distortions. For example, although ABC makes it clear that the Palestinian Authority’s Mahmoud Abbas has been “president for 18 years,” Longman overlooks that he was only elected to serve a four-year term. And while Israel’s newly-formed government is consistently described as “right-wing” and “hard-line,” terror inciter and Holocaust denier Abbas gets no modifier of any kind.

As Longman walks towards the Tomb of the Patriarchs in Hebron, Judaism’s second-holiest city after Jerusalem, he labels it “a Palestinian city which Jewish settlers have made one of the most volatile areas” — flat-out ignoring thousands of years of Jewish history.

Throughout his report, James Longman’s tone makes it patently obvious which side he has chosen. And by doing so, he deceives thousands of viewers by, once again, presenting a one-sided, pro-Palestinian narrative.