The Jerusalem Post, on West Bank, 23 October 2026

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Benjamin Netanyahu praises IDF troops for stopping wide-scale ...

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Without IDF soldiers stopping two Hamas terrorists on Friday morning, a major attack would likely have been made targeting civilians, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said.

Left out here: Leaves out what changes the picture

The article never says what the attack was: two gunmen opened fire on soldiers at a checkpoint near Hebron, and five people were wounded. Without this, a reader is left with only the officials' labels and Netanyahu's talk of civilians, and can believe civilians were the people attacked.

How we know

"Our forces are operating with reinforcements to thwart terrorism and are carrying out extensive waves of arrests," Netanyahu also said. "We will pursue Hamas terrorists and those who sent them, wherever they are and at all times."

After the attack, Netanyahu had announced that Likud events which had been scheduled for Friday morning would be canceled. He also ordered the IDF and security forces to establish a cordon around the city of Hebron and to block off all travel through the West Bank.

President Isaac Herzog said that he had spoken to the head of the Mount Hebron Regional Council to express his support following the attack.

"I told him that - together with the entire people of Israel, I am praying for the healing and full recovery of the wounded, some of whom are in very serious condition, and I asked him to embrace their dear families on my behalf," Herzog stated.

He also praised the soldiers who had , saying that they had prevented a large-scale attack.

National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir called for the dismantling of the Palestinian Authority .

"The severe attack that has just taken place serves as a bloody, harsh, and painful reminder of the price of the conception," he wrote. "We must not wait for an October 7 in Judea and Samaria. The next conflict will erupt there; we must act before it is too late. The Palestinian Authority must be dismantled, disarmed, and its terror infrastructure completely eradicated. The blood of our soldiers is not up for grabs."

Ben-Gvir also arrived on the scene of the attack, where he said that he did not want the road barriers and cordons to be removed .

"As long as there's terror, they should not be able to live as normal," he insisted.

"When I said, two or three years ago, that the freedom of movement for residents of the area was less important than the right of Jews to live, more than a few people rose up against me," he added.

No escaping West Bank military campaign, Smotrich says

Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich claimed that, after the attack, there would be "no escaping" a comprehensive military campaign in the West Bank.

"Under the current government, we have led a positive revolution in the settlement enterprise, one that effectively kills the dangerous idea of establishing a terror state in the heart of the State of Israel," Smotrich said.

"However, this task cannot be completed without a shift in our security doctrine - decisively defeating terror and its architects through an extensive military operation."

Smotrich added that this operation would be one of the first things to be demanded in the next government.

Gadi Eisenkot, head of the Yashar party, also reacted to the terror attack on X/Twitter, praying for the recovery of the victims and praising the IDF soldiers for their heroism and courage.

Liberman calls for end of containment policy for terror

Yisrael Beytenu chairman MK Avigdor Liberman said that it was a difficult morning for Israel.

"How many more attacks do we need to absorb to understand that we cannot continue with the policy of containment?"

"Terror is eliminated, not contained!"

Ofer Winter, chairman of the People of Israel party, said that cordons and demolition of "a few square meters" of terrorists' houses was not enough, and that a "decisive, root-level intervention" was needed.

"If we do not shift from a reactive, containment-based approach to one of constant initiative and a comprehensive campaign to eradicate terror, it is absolutely certain that the next October 7 will originate from Judea and Samaria," he said.

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What we found (3)

The Jerusalem Post calls the two dead men "the terrorists" and the event "the terror attack" in its own voice, and never gives its own account of what happened: by other reports, two gunmen opened fire at a checkpoint near Hebron, wounding five people. The article hands its whole length to Israeli officials and ministers, and the Palestinians of Hebron, placed under a cordon, appear only as "the locals".

  1. Labels people on one side's word

    Minor

    “successfully killed the terrorists”

    Why this matters
    In its own voice the Post calls the two men shot dead "the terrorists" and says they were "successfully killed", reporting the killing as a success.
    The impression it gives
    The reader takes it as settled fact, established by the paper, that the dead men were terrorists, and that killing them was a clear success.
    The context
    The label comes from Netanyahu, Herzog and the ministers the article quotes. The article never gives its own account of what the men did. Times of Israel coverage of the same event describes them as gunmen who opened fire on soldiers at a checkpoint. The Post never uses the words gunmen or checkpoint.

    How we know

    Show it in the article

    “in the wake of the terror attack”

    Why this matters
    The Post names the event "the terror attack" in its own narration, not inside any quotation, and gives no description of what took place.
    The impression it gives
    The reader comes away thinking a terror attack on civilians is an established fact. The only account the reader ever gets of the event is this label.
    The context
    Other coverage of the same morning reports a shooting by two gunmen at a checkpoint near Hebron in which soldiers were the people fired on. Whether to call that terror is the officials' framing, which the Post adopts as its own.

    How we know

    Show it in the article

  2. One side gets the space

    Minor

    “in order for the locals to be able to return to their normal lives”

    Why this matters
    The Palestinians of Hebron, whose city is put under a cordon, appear only as "the locals" inside Ben-Gvir's demand that they be kept from normal life.
    The impression it gives
    The reader hears from Netanyahu, Herzog, Ben-Gvir, Smotrich, Eisenkot, Liberman and Winter. The reader never learns what the closure means for the people living under it.
    The context
    The article reports a cordon around a whole city and a block on travel across the West Bank, yet quotes no Palestinian resident, official or rights group.

    How we know

    • Elsewhere in the article“establish a cordon around the city of Hebron”

    Show it in the article

  3. Leaves out what changes the picture

    Minor

    What is missing

    The article never says what the attack was: two gunmen opened fire on soldiers at a checkpoint near Hebron, and five people were wounded. Without this, a reader is left with only the officials' labels and Netanyahu's talk of civilians, and can believe civilians were the people attacked.

    How we know

    Show where it belongs

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