Guardian contributor Kate Shuttleworth tweets anti-Israel conspiracy article

In short, the PNN article tweeted without comment by the Guardian contributor is complete propaganda, and - at the very least - seriously calls into question her objectivity, fairness and commitment to professional journalism.

Kate Shuttleworth is a Guardian contributor who’s published eight reports on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict so far this year.

A couple of hours ago, she tweeted an article from the pro-Palestinian propaganda site Palestine News Network.

kate

Here’s the PNN article Shuttleworth linked to in her tweet.

Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) on Tuesday morning have shot dead a 50-year-old Palestinian woman in East Jerusalem, under the pretext of  a “stabbing attempt.”

IOF shot-dead Fadwa Abu Tair from Sur Baher town, East Jerusalem, near Al-Hadid Gate of Jerusalem’s old city.

Israeli army spokeswoman, Luba Samari claimed that the police immediately shot Fadwa for her alleged attempt to stab an Israeli policeman.

Intense numbers of Israeli police rushed to the spot and reportedly opened an investigation in the case, and closed the gates of the old city of Jerusalem following the shooting.

Shortly after killing Fadwa, IOF kidnapped a girl from Qalandia checkpoint, claiming she has a knife.

Last Friday, IOF killed a Palestinian mother of four, Amani Sabateen (31), claimed that she tried to run over an Israeli soldier.

This morning as well, IOF kidnapped Manal Tamimi, a mother of six and prominent nonviolence resistance activist from her home in Al-Nabi Saleh.

Ironically, these violations come on the International Women’s Day, 8 March.

The term “IOF” is short for Israeli Occupation Forces, a term popular within anti-Israel activists when referring to the IDF.

Additionally, the claim that the “IOF” killed a Palestinian woman “under the pretext of a stabbing attempt” parrots the incitement routinely found on Palestinian social media sites claiming that Israeli forces summarily execute Palestinians, and then later plants a knife to make it look like a terror attack.  

In the case in question, police released this photo of the knife the Palestinian woman used in attempting to kill them.

knife

PNN’s subsequent claim that the “IOF then kidnapped a girl from Qalandia checkpoint, claiming she has a knife” is contradicted by the reported admission by the Palestinian suspect, as reported by Times of Israel:

Shortly before that, in Qalandiya, IDF Military Police officers arrested a Palestinian woman who had a knife hidden in her bag, the army said.

The Military Police officers, who guard some checkpoints, saw the knife as the woman’s bag passed through their X-ray machine, the IDF said in a statement.

The Palestinian woman told interrogators that she had planned to carry out a stabbing attack with the knife, according to police

Here’s a photo of the knife (as seen through the security x-ray) released by police.

knife

Moving to PNN’s next claim, that “IOF killed a Palestinian mother of four” (Amani Sabateen) and “claimed that she tried to run over an Israeli soldier”.  

Actually, it wasn’t merely a claim that she “tried” to run over a soldier.  Sabateen was killed after she in fact rammed her car into soldiers at the Gush Etzion junction in the West Bank, injuring one soldier.

Finally, PNN claims that “IOF kidnapped Manal Tamimi, a mother of six and prominent nonviolence resistance activist“.

Of course, Manal Tamimi is one of the many Tamimi’s who routinely spark confrontations with Israeli soldiers in the town of Nabi Saleh. Contrary to PNN’s Claim, Manal has clearly advocated violence – including a series of hateful tweets calling for a third intifada and explicitly supporting the murder of “Zionist settlers”.

In short, the PNN article tweeted without comment by the Guardian contributor is complete propaganda, and – at the very least – seriously calls into question her objectivity, fairness and commitment to professional journalism. 

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