An American presenter mistook the sound of fireworks for shelling during a news segment on the opening of the new US embassy, revealing the “stark divide” between clashes in Gaza and celebrations in Jerusalem.
MSNBC’s Katy Tur was talking live to the network’s reporter Matt Bradley, who was in Jerusalem, when the sound of explosions could be head in the background.
Pausing briefly she then said: “Is that shelling?”
Bradley replied: “No, Katy. Katy, you’re actually hearing that here in Jerusalem and it’s actually fireworks going off behind me towards the old city here.
″[It’s a] real indication of the festive atmosphere that Israel has been experiencing for the past 24 hours,” he said.
Bradley said Tur’s mistake revealed “the very stark contrast to the images and reality that we’re seeing in Gaza unfold.”
In the bloodiest single day for Palestinians since 2014, Palestinian Health Ministry officials said 58 protesters were killed and 2,700 injured when thousands of people assembled close to the border fence with Gaza.
But less than 100 miles away in Jerusalem, politicians and diplomats turned out to celebrate the opening of the new US embassy, controversially moved from Tel Aviv at the decree of President Donald Trump.
At the opening reception, the US ambassador to Israel, David Friedman, told the audience, which included Ivanka Trump and her husband Jared Kushner, that Monday’s “historic event is attributed to the vision, courage, and moral clarity of one person to whom we owe an enormous and eternal debt of gratitude: President Donald J Trump”.
Trump, who was not present at the opening ceremony but sent a video message, later tweeted Monday was “great day for Israel”.