We don't think that this is malice so much as sheer incompetence. The CBS headline on this article is "Israel Admits To Sept. Air Attack In Syria". That's awful bold, isn't it? If the Israeli government officially admitted that it had committed an act of war against an Iranian proxy - that'd really be something. Of course, the CBS headline is sensational and wrong. The article's lead is:

Israel on Tuesday eased a strict news blackout on an air strike in Syria last month, allowing the first publication of reports it struck an unspecified "military target" deep inside Syrian territory. However, the censor continued to bar publication of other key details, including the target of the raid, which forces participated in the mission and whether the operation was successful.

The BBC has the exact same article up, along with the blurb "Israel has confirmed that it carried out a strike on a Syrian military installation last month." Again: very bold. Also: the opposite of true.

First; the IDF censor is neither accountable to nor speaks for the Israeli government. It can't admit anything. Even if the IDF censor was within the political echelon, it still wouldn't be an admission to let the Israeli press repeat what foreign media have been reporting for weeks. Here's the thing about many press outlets that write about Israel - not only are they willing to publish articles based on their egregiously impoverished understanding of Israel, no one's really going to hold them accountable for gross fabrications or obvious inconsistencies. It's that they can't even be bothered to do basic research:

The political echelon in Jerusalem was not consulted by the censor over its decision to lift the strict veil of secrecy over an air strike on a Syrian target last month, Army Radio reported on Tuesday evening. It followed the censor's announcement that it was allowing the Israeli media to report on the raid without attributing such reports to foreign sources. Officials in the Prime Minister's Office said they felt a sense of "discomfort" over the censor's decision, Channel 2 reported on Tuesday night. Social Welfare Minister Yitzhak Herzog said the announcement did not mean any political shift had occurred regarding the Syrian strike or that there has been a change in circumstances, but that it was merely a "technical" move by the censor.

These people just have no idea what the hell they're talking about, but for some reason their second-tier j-school degrees entitle them to speak authoritatively about - and often to demonize - the Israeli state. The carelessness is habitual. Because - again - it's not like anyone's ever really going to hold them accountable. Anyone want to take bets about whether this demonstrably false headline is ever even corrected?

References:
* Israel Admits To Sept. Air Attack In Syria [CBS]

Previously:
* Reporting Palestinian War Crimes And Israeli Responses, The BBC Way
* Another Idiot Liberal Academic Blogger Illustrates Another Insipid Angle Of The Walt And Mearsheimer Debate
* Well-Known Peaceful Relationship Between Gaza Christians And Muslims About To Be Disrupted By Anti-Christian Violence. Again.