Terror in London But Not Terror in Jerusalem

Simon Plosker

In recent days London has experienced a similar incident to the many Palestinian stabbing attacks that have taken place against Israelis over the past few months.

An attacker, who was later found to have material linked to Syria and global terror on his cellphone, slashed passersby at a London Underground station while shouting “this is for Syria, my Muslim brothers.”

As far as the UK security forces are concerned, this was an act of terrorism carried out by a radicalized individual. Indeed, the Daily Mail’s Mail Online makes it quite clear in its headline and opening sentence that this is terrorism.

Compare the above, however, with a story published only hours later concerning a terrorist knife attack in Jerusalem.

Note how in both headline and text the word terrorist is in quotations to make it clear that this reference to the Palestinian attacker is somehow up for debate.

By now, it is completely clear that the Jerusalem attack was just the latest in a wave of Palestinian terrorism aimed at both Israeli civilians and soldiers.

For the Mail Online (and others) it appears that there is a different standard at work when it comes to what is terrorism. When British people are on the receiving end it is undoubtedly terrorism. When Israelis are the victims or Palestinians the perpetrators, it is somehow questionable.

Yet one more example of the insidious double standards at work in the media when it comes to coverage of Israel. 

Simon Plosker, HonestReporting, December 8, 2015