Close-ups of the corpse of Neshat Melhem, the Dizengoff Street terrorist, which appeared again and again on all three of Israel’s TV stations Jan. 8, were just the tip of the iceberg in what can only be described as an assassination festival, celebrating the death of a terrorist. It was the kind of festival that lasts all weekend and into the next week.

The bullet-riddled body was sprawled across the yard of the terrorist’s home in the village of Arara, in Wadi Ara. Pictures of it appeared alongside photos of Melhem’s hideout, complete with cigarette butts, bottles of cheap juice, used coffee cups and dirty dishes. There was an endless stream of reports from the scene, too, which helped frame what had happened into a laudatory picture, celebrating the triumph of good over evil.

The headlines selected by news editors helped to frame the incident. “Account Settled,” screamed one. “The Assassination,” cried another. These and other riveting combinations of words and phrases transformed the nature of the event. Instead of a failure by the security forces, letting the terrorist escape, the incident became a military operation where security forces had the upper hand. Thus, the media willfully adopted the narrative that the police and the Shin Bet tried to dictate. By accepting this, they sidelined basic facts: There was a deadly attack in the heart of Tel Aviv, in which a terrorist murdered three people, managed to escape and interfered with day-to-day life in the city for an entire week.

From the moment that Melhem was caught, the media focused almost entirely on how he was killed. It reconstructed his escape route while ignoring much more important questions raised by the incident, starting with security and ending with the longstanding fiasco that is the government’s attitude toward the country’s Arab citizens. It is an attitude shared by previous governments over the past few decades.