US News & World Report says that the State Department report on international terrorism released Friday includes a subtle shift in its reporting on Israel: it includes UN estimates of civilian killings in Gaza, which State failed to itemize in years gone by.

In an article titled, “Does the State Department Terror Report Contain a Subtle Slap at Israel?” Matthew Cella of US News contrasts several reports by the State Department, beginning with a quotation from page 172 of the one released last week. Here’s the quote:

“According to publicly available data, the conflict [in summer 2014] led to the deaths of 2,205 Palestinians and 74 persons in Israel, among them 67 soldiers, six Israeli civilians, and one Thai civilian. The Israeli government estimated that half of those killed in Gaza were civilians and half were combatants, while the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA) recorded 1,483 civilian Palestinian deaths – more than two-thirds of those killed – including 521 children and 283 women.”
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I’d emphasize that these numbers are published in the context of Israel’s battle with terrorist organizations, per the State Department. It’s not calling Israel a terrorist. But Cella speculates that the change in these accounting methods is an “unusual implied criticism of Israel” and maybe even an indication that U.S. policy is shifting. Yes I know, a mere tremor. About 2 on the Richter scale. A straw in the wind. But we’ll take it.