AP Deletes and Corrects Tweet Saying Texas Synagogue Standoff Issue Was ‘Not Connected to Jewish Community’

The Associated Press on Monday deleted a tweet from the weekend on the subject of the hostage standoff at the Congregation Beth Israel synagogue in Colleyville, Texas, replacing it and sending a correction note on Twitter.

The tweet that was deleted was sent at the end of the standoff after all hostages were rescued and the assailant was dead. “BREAKING: The FBI says the Texas synagogue hostage-taker’s demands were specifically focused on issue not connected to the Jewish community,” it read.

The article read in part: “[FBI Special Agent in Charge Matt DeSarno] said the hostage taker was specifically focused on an issue not directly connected to the Jewish community…”

Both the original tweet and article – and more to the point, the FBI statement on which it was based – were widely attacked over the weekend. Conservative website Twitchy, for example, collected some of those tweets under the headline, “‘Freaking clowns’: FBI and mainstream media already teaming up to claim synagogue hostage situation ‘not connected to Jewish community’.” Several of the critical tweets were widely shared, including one from Gov. Ron DeSantis spox Christina Pushaw.

On Monday, the AP sent a new tweet on the subject, deleting the old and adding a note about the change.

The text of the original article remains the same. The article linked in the new tweet says in part that “The FBI said there was no early indication that anyone else was involved, but it had not provided a possible motive.”

Also in the new article:

The investigation stretched to England, where late Sunday police in Manchester announced that two teenagers were in custody in connection with the standoff. Greater Manchester Police tweeted that counter-terrorism officers had made the arrests but did not say whether the pair faced any charges.

 

On Sunday night, the FBI issued a statement calling the ordeal “a terrorism-related matter, in which the Jewish community was targeted.” The agency said the Joint Terrorism Task Force is investigating.

Those statements are a shift from the FBI’s original statements. The specific comment summarized by the AP in the now-deleted tweet and altered article was given by Agent DeSarno. “We do believe from our engagement with this subject that he was singularly focused on one issue, and it was not specifically related to the Jewish community, but we’re continuing to work to find motive, and we will continue on that path,” he said at the time.

The FBI was heavily criticized over that characterization of the taking of hostages at a Jewish synagogue by a man demanding the release of a virulently anti-Semitic convicted and terror-connected attempted murderer as being about an issue not “connected to the Jewish community.”

The adjusted statement still didn’t go over great.

The AP, too, faced additional criticism over the weekend in the wake of the synagogue terror.

The original article linked from the now-deleted tweet included a description of the woman known as “Lady al Qaeda” who was the object of the hostage-taker’s demands, Aafia Siddiqui. It described her as “a Pakistani neuroscientist suspected of having ties to al-Qaida.”

The article was changed to read that Siddiqui is “a Pakistani neuroscientist who was convicted of trying to kill U.S. Army officers in Afghanistan.”

There is no note in the article about that correction. Additionally, the AP was criticized for a separate article on Siddiqui, which did not include descriptions of her past anti-Semitic statements, which are relevant to the story. Multiple people tweeted about that omission, including Pulitzer center grantee Danny Gold, a journalist, and filmmaker.

 

A good question.