Do you remember how U.S. newspapers used to refer to any protracted spell between Palestinian suicide bombings as "periods of calm"? No matter how many dozens of Palestinians in the Occupied Territories were killed by Israeli soldiers in the period between suicide bombings, our newspapers regarded the situation as "calm" so long as no Israeli civilians were getting killed.
Apparently, they still do.
According to the United Nations, the IDF violated the current truce in Gaza six times - by firing upon Palestinian civilians in the Strip - between 20 and 24 June. Palestinian Islamic Jihad broke the truce for the first time by firing Qassams at Sderot on 24 June. And this is how the NY Times reports this state of affairs:
Rockets Hit Israel, Breaking Hamas Truce. (emphasis mine)
Remember these rules of American journalism: as long as Palestinian civilians are killed, but Israelis are not, it's still a period of calm. And as long as Israelis are shooting at Palestinian civilians, but Palestinians are not shooting back, it's still a truce.
