During Israel's Operation Pillar of Defense, media outlets jumped on a report about innocent Palestinian casualties at the hands of the Israeli military. One episode, the death of a BBC reporter's infant son, included heart-breaking images of the grieving father cradling his dead child.
"Spare a thought for Omar, 11-month son of our BBC Arabic Service colleague in Gaza, killed in today's Israeli air strike," BBC Washington correspondent Paul Adams wrote in a Twitter post.
The Elder of Ziyon blog reports on a little-noticed investigation by the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC), which determined that Omar Mishrawi died as a result of a Hamas rocket that fell short of Israel.
The U.N. report also made clear that Hamas repeatedly violated international human rights law by launching rockets from densely populated neighborhoods in Gaza and firing "the vast majority" of its rockets at civilian communities.
Palestinian terrorists admitted "that their intended targets were civilians or large population centers in Israel, or objects that are prima facie civilian objects, such as Israel's parliament, in clear violation of international humanitarian law."
Elder of Ziyon called the Hamas criticism "pretty astonishing" since it came from "the notoriously anti-Israel U.N. Human Rights Council."
The report cites a second case of a child, Mahmoud Sadallah, whose death was blamed on Israel but was in fact caused by Hamas.
Palestinian exploitation of casualties is nothing new. In the past, many incidents have been proved to be fabricated or conducted by the Palestinians themselves. This tactic, commonly referred to as "Pallywood," is vital for the Palestinians to wage the increasingly crucial media war against Israel in an effort to win the hearts and minds of the international community.
While there were civilian casualties, the U.N. report notes the Hamas rocket fire was coming from residential areas. And it settles the debate over who was responsible for the toddler's death, showing the BBC and other outlets incorrectly jumped to blame Israel.
Steven Emerson is executive director of The Investigative Project on Terrorism. Emerson was a correspondent for CNN and a senior editor at U.S. News and World Report. Read more reports from Steve Emerson — Click Here Now.
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