The IDF's 98th Division Headquarters on Sunday completed its mission overseeing the Judea and Etzion Regional Brigades of the Judea and Samaria Division. The Division Headquarters was deployed to the area on September 25th to reinforce command and control capabilities and strengthen defensive and offensive operations. During its deployment, the Division Headquarters drew on the operational experience gained from combat across multiple fronts in recent years, incorporating lessons learned from ground operations in Gaza and Lebanon and adapting them to the operational environment in Judea and Samaria.
Throughout this period, the Judea and Etzion Regional Brigades, under the command of the 98th Division, carried out over 1,500 counterterrorism operations, during which approximately 35 weapons were located and more than 140 suspects were apprehended. These operations reflected the command’s mission: enabling civilians to maintain their daily routines while confronting terrorist threats. During the Division Headquarters’ deployment in the Judea Brigade, two IDF soldiers, Staff Sergeant Ron Yonatan Roytman and Sergeant Yuval Shai Svilem, were killed during an encounter with terrorists.
Their actions and sacrifice prevented a serious terrorist attack against Israeli civilians. With the completion of its mission, the 98th Division will resume its role as a General Staff reserve division, focusing on readiness and preparations for future operational scenarios.
Arutz Sheva reprints the Israeli army's account of a six-week divisional deployment in the occupied West Bank in its own voice, with no attribution. It calls the territory Judea and Samaria, calls more than 1,500 raids counterterrorism operations, and states as fact the army's claim that two dead soldiers prevented a serious attack. The Palestinians whose communities were raided and whose people were detained never appear by name as a people.
Uses the occupation's words
Serious
“Judea and Samaria mission”
Why this matters
The headline names the territory with the words "Judea and Samaria" in the outlet's own voice.
The impression it gives
A reader takes the area as a normal Israeli region where an army division carries out a routine mission.
The context
The area is the occupied West Bank. The ICJ found the occupation unlawful. The article never uses the words occupied or West Bank anywhere.
How we know
On the recordThe International Court of Justice's July 2024 advisory opinion found Israel's occupation of the West Bank and East Jerusalem unlawful.icj-cij.org (opens in a new tab)
Checked against the whole articleIt never uses the words “occupied” and “West Bank”.
“adapting them to the operational environment in Judea and Samaria”
Why this matters
The outlet again uses "Judea and Samaria" in its own voice, this time placing the territory alongside Gaza and Lebanon as one more front for lessons learned in combat.
The impression it gives
A reader sees the territory as Israeli ground and its population as an enemy front, not as people under military occupation.
The context
This is occupied Palestinian territory under a regime the ICJ has ruled unlawful. The outlet's own unit name in S1 is official, but here the term is the outlet's own choice.
How we know
On the recordThe International Court of Justice's July 2024 advisory opinion found Israel's occupation of the West Bank and East Jerusalem unlawful.icj-cij.org (opens in a new tab)
On the recordThe International Court of Justice's July 2024 advisory opinion found Israel's settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem illegal under international law.icj-cij.org (opens in a new tab)
“carried out over 1,500 counterterrorism operations”
Why this matters
The outlet calls more than 1,500 army operations "counterterrorism operations" in its own voice, with no attribution to the army.
The impression it gives
A reader believes every one of these operations targeted terrorism.
The context
The article gives no detail of a single operation. The figures show about 35 weapons across more than 1,500 operations, meaning most found none. These were raids by Israeli occupation forces in occupied territory, and the label is the army's.
How we know
On the recordThe International Court of Justice's July 2024 advisory opinion found Israel's occupation of the West Bank and East Jerusalem unlawful.icj-cij.org (opens in a new tab)
Checked against the whole articleIt never uses the words “raid”.
Israeli occupation forces' 98th Division ended a six-week deployment in the occupied West Bank, during which, the army said, its units carried out more than 1,500 raids and detained more than 140 people.
States one side's claim as fact
Serious
“These operations reflected the command’s mission: enabling civilians to maintain their daily routines while confronting terrorist threats.”
Why this matters
The outlet states the army's description of its own purpose as fact, with no "said" or "according to".
The impression it gives
A reader believes it is established that the raids protected civilians and confronted real threats.
The context
This is the army's account of itself. The article gives no source and no evidence for it, and it never says the army is the source of any figure or claim.
How we know
Checked against the whole articleIt never uses the words “according” and “said”.
“Their actions and sacrifice prevented a serious terrorist attack against Israeli civilians.”
Why this matters
The outlet asserts in its own voice that the two soldiers prevented a serious attack on civilians.
The impression it gives
A reader believes a planned attack on Israeli civilians was confirmed and stopped.
The context
The article's only account of the event is that the soldiers were killed "during an encounter". It gives no detail of any planned attack and no source for the claim, which is the army's.
How we know
Elsewhere in the article“were killed during an encounter with terrorists”
Two soldiers, Staff Sergeant Ron Yonatan Roytman and Sergeant Yuval Shai Svilem, were killed during the deployment. The army said their actions prevented an attack on Israeli civilians.
Writes Palestinians out of their own story
Minor
“more than 140 suspects were apprehended”
Why this matters
The outlet reduces the people detained to a number and the word "suspects", and never says who they were or where they were taken from.
The impression it gives
A reader sees anonymous suspects, not Palestinians seized from their homes and villages under occupation.
The context
The raids took place in Palestinian communities in the occupied West Bank. The word Palestinian appears nowhere in the article.
How we know
Checked against the whole articleIt never uses the words “Palestinian”.
On the recordReporting on Israel's assault on Gaza and on the Greens' Zionism motion has given Israeli, pro-Israel and Israeli-government sources far more space than Palestinian voices, who are quoted least when the story concerns them.newscord.org (opens in a new tab)
“enabling civilians to maintain their daily routines”
Why this matters
The outlet speaks of "civilians" and their daily routines as the people the raids served, and the article names only "Israeli civilians" elsewhere.
The impression it gives
A reader believes the only civilians in the territory are Israelis, and the raids protected everyone's daily life.
The context
Palestinians are the population living under these raids. The article gives Israeli soldiers names and ranks, but Palestinians do not appear as people at all.
How we know
Elsewhere in the article“a serious terrorist attack against Israeli civilians”
On the recordReporting on Israel's assault on Gaza and on the Greens' Zionism motion has given Israeli, pro-Israel and Israeli-government sources far more space than Palestinian voices, who are quoted least when the story concerns them.newscord.org (opens in a new tab)