NYT'S CUTE LITTLE ROCKETS

Times Downplays Threat of Palestinian Rockets Against Israel (TimesWatch)
Israel-based (and pro-Palestinian reporter) Steven Erlanger has another feature on Palestinians as victims of Israeli attacks in Tuesday's "Where Rockets Exit, Shells Enter and Houses Are Ruined."

Erlanger profiles a Gaza Strip family whose house was hit by an Israeli artillery shell (after four Qassam rockets had been fired at Israel from the same neighborhood the night before). While going into home-inspector detail on the damage to the home of the Abu Odeh family, Erlanger is dismissive of the Palestinian attacks that resulted in the reprisal in the first place, noting the "inaccurate, homemade Qassams, which -- on Friday night, at least -- fell harmlessly."

They haven't always fallen harmlessly, but Erlanger doesn't go into that. The pro-Israel media watchdog group Honest Reporting argued about an Associated Press article last month that similarly downplayed the threat from "homemade" Qassams:

"The word 'homemade' is a strange term to use. These rockets are manufactured in industrial areas or have been transported across the porous Gaza-Egyptian border. While Qassam Rockets are not the most sophisticated military weapon, they do require both expertise and dedicated locations to manufacture. Although the Palestinians have located many of the Qassam 'labs' within residential areas, the notion that these are some type of 'homemade' devices is misleading."

Honest Reporting also points out several deadly attacks on civilians resulting from what Erlanger calls "inaccurate, homemade Qassams."