Yesterday, Palestinian Arabs tried to kidnap New York Times reporter James Bennet—their best friend in the Western press, who never misses a chance to whitewash Palestinian terrorism: Palestinians try to kidnap U.S. reporter from Rafah. (Hat tip: Josh Harvey.)

A New York Times correspondent narrowly escaped a kidnap attempt by Palestinians while covering Israel’s extensive raid into the Rafah refugee camp in the southern Gaza Strip, the newspaper said on Thursday.

James Bennet, bureau chief for Israel and the territories, said he was speaking on a cellphone in front of a Rafah hospital on Wednesday when a Palestinian he did not know came up, smiled and offered his hand, saying, “Welcome.”

When Bennet shook his hand, the man and another Palestinian grabbed him and tried to thrust him into an old Mercedes car that pulled up with its back door open, recalling kidnappings of foreigners by Muslim militants in wartime Beirut in the 1980s.

An abduction was averted only by police at the hospital, who ran to Bennet’s assistance in response to his struggle and cries. The men then jumped in the car and sped away, the correspondent said in his dispatch in Thursday’s Times.

Bennet narrowly escaped the fate of Nick Berg. What are the chances this will affect his incredibly biased reporting?

(A: slim to none.)

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