Journalists are being more careful

The Israel Defense Forces went into Jenin in April 2002 as part of Operation Defensive Shield, carrying out a mission that took combat soldiers from door to door. Then, just as it is now in Gaza, the fighting was difficult.

The Palestinians cried out "Massacre in Jenin," and senior Palestinian Authority official Nabil Shaath even compared the IDF operation in Jenin with "the massacre of hundreds of Palestinians in 1982," referring to Sabra and Shatila in Lebanon. The Palestinians spoke of a high number of victims, anywhere from 500 to 3,000. In reality, there were 56 Palestinian deaths, including armed combatants. The international media reported first and foremost on the "massacre in Jenin," without stopping to ask questions, which led to an increase in anti-Semitic incidents in Europe. It took the world a long time to finally admit that there was no massacre in Jenin.

On Sunday, the Palestinians were looking to add Shujaiyya to their battlefield legacy: A legacy measured not only by the number of IDF soldiers killed, but by the number of their own civilians killed as well.

The word "massacre" can be found in almost every media report from Gaza, in English, Spanish, German and Italian, quoting Gazans who had fled from Shujaiyya. But this time, journalists decided to be more careful then they had been with Jenin.

British news outlet Sky News spoke about a massacre, quoting a Palestinian's testimony, while choosing to lead with the story of the Malaysia Airlines flight. It is no great surprise that Iranian news outlet Press TV basically sees the Malaysian plane crash as some kind of Israeli conspiracy, after the Iranian claim that the plane was tied to Israel.

The websites of both CNN and The New York Times also reported prominently about the deaths in Gaza, but both, like Sky News, chose to lead with the Malaysian plane. The Times wrote about the bodies of the plane passengers, rather than those in Gaza.

CNN posted videos that are not easy to watch, showing terrified children in emergency rooms. The reporter said that it was not surprising to see children hurt in the conflict since 43 percent of Gaza residents are less than 14 years old. He could have added that Hamas uses them as human shields. He could have, but he didn't.

Meanwhile, the French media continued to report on the violent pro-Palestinian protests that shook Paris on Saturday. France, "will tolerate no act, no words that could give rise to anti-Semitism," said French President Francois Hollande.

There were also reports in France of a synagogue lit on fire in a Paris suburb. France is understanding that flames in Gaza feed fires in France.

And then there was U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry's interview with Fox News, which he preceded with some off-the-record criticism of Operation Protective Edge. On air, however, he made some important comments, something which at least a part of the world which sees us as "moral" believes: "We support Israel's right to defend itself against rockets that are continuing to come in."

The credit Israel has received may have an expiry date, but it's still much more than we have been given in the past. That does not mean, however, that we won't see the movie " Shujaiyya, Shujaiyya" a few years down the line.

טעינו? נתקן! אם מצאתם טעות בכתבה, נשמח שתשתפו אותנו