Israel summons Turkish news agency over tweet

Israel’s Government Press Office on Wednesday summoned the head of the Turkish state news agency to protest an “inciting” tweet reporting on a terror attack in Jerusalem.

The Anadolu agency sent a tweet saying “Palestinian man shot dead by the Israeli police,” after a terror attack in which a Palestinian driver rammed his car into a crowd of pedestrians in Jerusalem, killing one and injuring several.

The driver was shot by police after attacking pedestrians with a metal rod.

GPO director Nitzan Chen called the local bureau chief of the agency to his office on Thursday to respond to the tweet.

The agency later deleted the tweet. Anadolu couldn’t be reached immediately for a response.

“Journalists who engage in incitement and who disseminate misleading information which is liable to put lives at risk are liable to have their GPO cards revoked,” the GPO said in a statement.

A source in the Foreign Ministry responded to the tweet, telling Ynet that its “an official tweet by the Turkish news agency and the intent of the false report is to incite and to stoke hatred against Israel.”

“A journalist who disseminates false information of this kind is derelict in his duty and in effect supports terrorism,” the official said.

Reporting on the same incident, the official Palestinian WAFA news sent a headline reading “Jerusalem man killed after traffic accident where Israelis were hurt.”

Two weeks ago, after a similar incident in which a Palestinian man from Silwan plowed his car into a crowded train platform in Jerusalem, killing two and injuring several others, the Associated Press came under fire for initially reporting the attack as “Israeli police shoot man in East Jerusalem.”