For a full week, following the sniper slaying of 10-month old Shalhevet Pass in Hebron, the official Palestinian Authority press made no mention of the killing.

On April 2, 2001, the morning after Shalhevet’s funeral, journalist Michael Widlanski, completing his PHD on the subject of the official media of the Palestinian Authority, provided the following excerpt from the radio commentary of senior Voice of Palestine commentator Youssef al-Kazaz, broadcast on the Palestinian Authority flagship radio station, Voice of Palestine, on 2 April 2001 at 8:39 a.m.:

“On the matter of the baby settler who was killed in Hebron a few days ago, we already said that her death was a fishy action and there is information according to which this baby was retarded and it was her mother who killed her in order to get rid of her.”

Gideon Meir, deputy director-general of the Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs division of public affairs commented that: “The things that were broadcast on Voice of Palestine are testimony to just how low the Palestinians are willing to go in order to win world public opinion. It would be bad enough if they used false material in their propaganda but to stick Israel with such a lie is such insolence and gall that it raises the contempt of any human being.”

Dr. Aaron Lerner, Director of IMRA , “Independent Media Review & Analysis”, provided the Gideon Meir comment.