Another epistemological challenge. Tim McGirk of Time Magazine has a report of an Israeli randomly murdering three little girls and an old lady. Pay attention to his idea of what constitutes confirmation of allegations he repeats as true...

The tragic story of Khaled Abed Rabbo and his three young daughters -- said to have been shot in cold blood by an Israeli soldier on Jan. 7 in the northern Gaza Strip as the family waved white flags -- has been retold in many outlets, including Time Magazine, the Irish Times, the Washington Post, the Independent, BBC, and the Sydney Morning Herald, among others. Indeed, the Irish Times reports that "Each day, journalists and human rights investigators come to interview the grieving father." And, as reported by McClatchy News, the Abed Rabbos' allegation "is one of at least five such white flag incidents that human rights investigators are looking into across the Gaza Strip."

Yet, human rights investigators and journalists overlook the serious inconsistencies in the varying accounts delivered by Khaled and his relatives, as well as an ambulance driver who claimed to try to help the family. Moreover, early Palestinian accounts of the deaths -- as well as early reports in the Los Angeles Times and Ha'aretz -- tell an entirely different story which involves neither white flags nor cold-blooded executions of small children...