BBC: Terrorists threaten other terrorists . . . er . . . um . . . Al-Asqa threatens Hamas . . . er . . . "Militants threaten Hamas leaders"

"Militants threaten Hamas leaders" is the actual article title, of course:

A militant group linked to former Palestinian governing party Fatah has threatened to kill leaders of political rival Hamas.

The al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades said it held Hamas officials responsible for deaths during violent clashes between gunmen from both factions.

Three senior Hamas officials had been marked out for "execution", a statement from the group said.

Clashes between gunmen from the two rival groups began on Sunday in Gaza.

What is so funny about that title is that one can almost see the BBC writer thinking out loud. The most obvious title possibility, simply naming who was threatening whom, was clearly a problem for the BBC. Al-Asqa and Hamas are similar groups, but we can't have sordid Palestinian inter-thug violence coming across as sordid Palestinian inter-thug violence, can we? The solution was to picture those Hamas "leaders" as normal government officials threatened by other terrorists, or as the current euphemism goes, "militants."

Tags: Israel, Palestinians, Hamas, Al-Asqa, Fatah, journalism, BBC