![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.camera.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Kfar-Yasif-Google-Maps.png\")
<\/a><\/p>\nThe Arab town of Kfar Yasif is located in northern Israel (image from Google Maps)<\/p>\n
The settlement references \u2014 most abundant<\/a> in Arabic<\/a> discourse<\/a> but also in English-language mainstream media including CBS<\/a>, MSNBC<\/a> and Agence France Presse<\/a> \u2014 stigmatize communities within internationally recognized Israeli territory with a pejorative term meant to delegitimize.<\/p>\n The misleading references to Arab towns or even mixed Arab-Jewish towns in Israel as \u201cPalestinian\u201d blurs geographic and political boundaries, erasing Israel from the map. In 2020, National Public Radio refused<\/a> to correct after Palestinian celebrity chef Sami Tamimi cited Nazareth, Haifa and Acre \u2014 all well within internationally recognized Israeli territory \u2014 as within \u201cmodern time Palestine.\u201d The following year, a\u00a0New York Times piece<\/a> by cookbook author Reem Kassis referred to the Arab town of Rameh in northern Israeli, as \u201ca Palestinian town surrounded by olive groves, has long had a reputation for producing especially good oil.\u201d<\/p>\n The shooting \u2014 which police later said was a case of mistaken identity \u2014 stunned his hometown of Kafr Yasif, long\u00a0besieged,<\/a> like many Palestinian towns in Israel, by a wave of gang violence and family feuds.<\/p>\n Referring to \u201cPalestinian\u201d towns in Israel is both inaccurate and confusing. Kfar Yasif is internationally recognized as part of the State of Israel. Does AP oppose the international community on this point?<\/p>\n At every opportunity, the AP piece labels people, political parties and locations in Israel as Palestinian. Among the 18 references (including in the headline), are the following statements:<\/p>\n One out of every five citizens in Israel is Palestinian<\/p>\n Lod, a mixed city with a large Palestinian population<\/p>\n Some Palestinian citizens<\/a> have reached the highest echelons of business and politics<\/a> in Israel<\/p>\n Nabil was one of a record 252 Palestinian citizens to be killed in Israel<\/p>\n The violence has stifled the rhythm of life in many Palestinian communities. In Kafr Yasif, a northern Israel town of 10,000<\/p>\n Last year, only 8% of killings of Palestinian citizens<\/p>\n The killings have become a rallying cry for Palestinian-led political parties after successive governments pledged to curb the bloodshed with little results<\/p>\n Israeli soldier Sgt. Tamer Othman of Kfar Yasif, killed fighting Hamas in Gaza in November 2024. He fought to defend Israel\u2019s people and land. AP journalists chip away at Israeli territory, calling his hometown in northern Israel \u2018Palestinian\u2019 (Photo from IDF)<\/p>\n This inappropriate terminology confuses readers by conflating the significant political, legal, and social differences between Israel\u2019s Arab citizens and Palestinians living in the West Bank and Gaza. Moreover, the confusion is both extraneous and avoidable, because the population\u2019s self-identification includes and even\u00a0favors<\/a> their Arab identity. Kfar Yasif, as it happens, has lost one of its young men, Sgt. Tamer Othman<\/a>, an Israel Defense Forces soldier killed November 2024 in northern Gaza fighting Hamas. His profile, for one, does not exactly suggest that he would have rejected Israeli identity.<\/p>\n Notably, AP has rightfully been careful in the past to identify Arab towns in Israel and their residents as Israeli (ex, \u201cthe small Arab-Israeli city of Tamra, in northern Israel,\u201d June\u00a0 16, 2025; \u201can Israeli Arab man was killed\u201d in Istanbul, Aug. 19, 2024; \u201cArab Israeli lawmaker\u201d Ghaida Rinawie Zoabi, May 22, 2022).<\/p>\n<\/a>The Associated Press is the latest to cook up a slick story about a \u201cPalestinian\u201d town in Israel. Unfortunately, this time the subject matter \u2014 deadly crime afflicting the Arab community in Israel \u2014 shares none of the lightness of its culinary predecessors. In their article yesterday, \u201cBesieged by gang violence, Palestinian citizens in Israel demand more security<\/a>,\u201d AP\u2019s Sam Metz and Areej Hazboun wrongly refer to Kfar Yasif, within Israel\u2019s internationally recognized territory, as \u201cPalestinian,\u201d stating:<\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n