New outlets, including, or especially, Israeli ones such as the Times of Israel (TOI) and the Jerusalem Post, must start doing a better job at fact checking. Recently, another textbook example of how the canard of settler violence is generated and perpetuated occurred. It happens when reporters accept accusations without questioning and claims made by Arabs without any attempt at fact-checking. This time it happened when on August 20-21 media outlets around the world blared headlines about “settlers” setting fire to a home of “Palestinians”. The Times of Israel had an article ( https://www.timesofisrael.com/liveblog_entry/report-settlers-set-fire-to-home-in-southern-west-bank-overnight-no-injuries/ ) with a headline: “Report: settlers set fire to home in southern West Bank overnight.” The article gave no indication of fact checking or of getting information from the Israeli side. The Times of Israel simply repeated what Arab sources told them. Reuters did worse. They had a headline ( https://www.reutersconnect.com/item/israeli-settlers-set-fire-to-a-house-in-the-west-bank/dGFnOnJldXRlcnMuY29tLDIwMjY6bmV3c21sX01UMUFOQURMMDAwQzlLUUpB ) that proclaimed: “Israeli settlers set fire to a house in the West Bank.” They did not even precede it with the word “report” but simply stated it as fact. The Jerusalem Post ( https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/defense-news/article-906195 ) had a photo caption that read: “A fire in a Palestinian village in the West Bank, allegedly started by settlers, August 21, 2026.” At least they included “allegedly”. The Middle East Monitor........

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