Israel made a terrible tactical blunder in targeting the AP — one it’s made many times before

If Israel’s government were secretly on a mission to cause the Jewish state as much reputational damage as possible, that might explain its move on Tuesday to confiscate video equipment used by the Associated Press to transmit from near Gaza.

The self-defeating circus featured an obvious lie, an evident truth and a ridiculous action.

The truth is that, as those making the confiscation argued, AP — where I used to serve as the chief editor for Europe, Africa and the Middle East — was indeed supplying video to Al Jazeera, as it does to its hundreds of other video clients. Israel barred the Qatari network from operating in the country a few weeks ago and has accused its staff of being Hamas apologists — in government parlance, “supporters of terror.”