A Jewish organisation has filed a complaint against the ABC accusing the national broadcaster of bias over its coverage of the Israel and Palestine conflict.
The Australian Jewish Association (AJA) made the complaint on Monday over a story about a 27-year-old Palestinian gunman who shot dead a Tel Aviv city patrol inspector before he was killed on Saturday.
‘Palestinian man killed in Tel Aviv shooting that leaves another critically wounded,’ the ABC headline read.
The AJA accused the ABC of misleading the public by omitting the context of the incident being a terrorist attack.
It marks the latest example of the ABC coming under fire for its reporting on world events after the national broadcaster sparked outrage over its coverage of King Charles III’s Coronation earlier this year.
A Jewish organisation has filed a complaint against the ABC accusing the national broadcaster of bias over its coverage of the Israel and Palestine conflict
The Australian Jewish Association (AJA) made the complaint on Monday over a story about a 27-year-old Palestinian gunman who shot dead a Tel Aviv city patrol inspector before he was killed on Saturday
News agency Reuters had reported on the same story in Tel Aviv with the headline: ‘Palestinian attack leaves one Israeli dead in Tel Aviv, shooter killed’.
The ABC now shows the story with the headline: ‘Tel Aviv shooting leaves one man critically injured and one dead’.
The AJA have previously filed complaints with the ABC over their coverage of the conflict, which have been upheld by the ABC ombudsman’s office.
AJA director of public affairs Robert Gregory told Daily Mail Australia the agency is ‘frustrated at how often the ABC makes errors when reporting significant international news stories, particularly on the Middle East’.
‘In this case, ABC twisted coverage of a Palestinian Islamic terrorist attack against Israelis to make it seem like the terrorist was the victim,’ he said.
AJA president Dr David Adler said the ABC has an ‘extraordinarily long and disgraceful record of anti-Israel bias’.
‘The ABC will go out of their way to omit the terrorism aspect of the story,’ he said.
The AJA previously made a complaint against the ABC for a story published on May 27, titled: ‘Three Palestinians killed by Israeli forces in the West Bank, ministry says’.
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The story included the term ‘freedom fighter’, which was amended alongside the headline after the complaint was filed by the AJA.
‘We have had several complaints against ABC upheld recently, but it’s not our job to fix their mistakes,’ Mr Gregory said.
‘The repeated errors of this nature are systemic, and we are beginning to think they may be intentionally malicious.
‘Australian taxpayers fund ABC and they deserve better.’
An ABC spokesman said: ‘The ABC Ombudsman’s Office has six content complaints on hand and is investigating the concerns raised.’
The Australian Jewish Agency claims the national broadcaster published a headline with errors on Sunday showed an ‘anti-Israel bias’ (stock image)
The broadcaster’s coverage was hosted by The Drum’s Julia Baird and Jeremy Fernandez with a discussion panel consisting of former Q&A host Stan Grant, co-chair of the Australian Republic Movement Craig Foster, Liberal MP and monarchist Julian Leeser, and Wiradjuri and Wailwan woman Teela Reid
The public broadcaster had previously been chastised by the public for their coverage of the Coronation of King Charles III in May.
The broadcaster’s coverage was hosted by The Drum’s Julia Baird and Jeremy Fernandez with a discussion panel consisting of former Q&A host Stan Grant, co-chair of the Australian Republic Movement Craig Foster, Liberal MP and monarchist Julian Leeser, and Wiradjuri and Wailwan woman Teela Reid.
The two-hour program focused heavily on the impact colonisation has had on Indigenous Australians and people of colour, taking aim at the monarchy.
‘There is no Indigenous foundation, no Indigenous heritage to Australia, Australia sought to erase the Indigenous heritage,’ Grant said during the program.
While some viewers praised the national broadcaster’s approach, others decided to change channels altogether.
‘Ok I’m about to change channels away from ABC. Who can tell me the best coverage of the actual coronation?’ one viewer tweeted.
‘I had to turn off the boring ABC coverage of the coronation,’ another said, comparing it to a ‘history lecture’.
