German newspaper Die Zeit changes headline after blaming Israel for attacks on Hamas

The German weekly Die Zeit published a headline claiming Israel first attacked the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip. The publication did not note that the IDF fired in self-defense after Hamas launched missiles into Israel, which sparked an uproar on social media.

“Israel attacks Hamas in Gaza again,” read the headline of the online article of Die Zeit (The Time) in connection with the attack on Sunday. Katharina von Schnurbein, the first European Commission Coordinator on combatting antisemitism, tweeted, “I am a big Die Zeit fan because I appreciate solid journalism, but this title is tendentious and misleading. This would be correct: ‘Israel reacts to renewed fire from Gaza.’ You can easily correct that online.”

Other Twitter users blasted the German weekly for its headline. The paper later changed the headline to: “Israel responds to shelling from the Gaza Strip.”

Die Zeit added a correction explanation at the end of the article. “Our report was initially published with a misleading title. We apologize for this error,” wrote the paper. Von Schnurbein‘s statement was an atypical public criticism of a German institution. When The Jerusalem Post asked von Schnurbein if she would urge the EU to call for a ban of the Lebanese Shi’ite movement Hezbollah in Europe, she declined to answer.

The US, Canada, Israel, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, the Arab League and a number of Latin American countries have classified Hezbollah’s entire organization a terrorist movement.
The EU and Germany have outlawed Hezbollah’s “military wing” and allows the “political wing” to raise funds and recruit new members in Europe. Hezbollah considers itself a unified movement, without seperate wings.

Source: JP