Enderlin’s Revealing Statement Lost in Ha’aretz Translation
The Augean Stables has flagged an old, but very interesting case of Ha’aretz, Lost in Translation. In a 2007 interview with Adi Schwartz, France 2’s Charles Enderlin speaks about the Mohammed Al Dura case. In the Nov. 1, 2007 interview, Schwartz asked Enderlin about his reporting from that fateful day in which he stated that the Israeli army shot and killed Mohammed Al Dura and injured his father:
In hindsight, is it possible that you were too hasty that evening?
According to the English edition, Enderlin responded:
I don’t think so. Besides, the moment I saw that nobody was asking me anything officially, I started feeling more strongly that the story was true.
But the Hebrew edition has a longer answer which contains a very revealing statement.
“ל? חושב. ?? ל? הייתי ?ומר שהילד וה?ב היו קורבנות לירי שב? מכיוון עמדת צה”ל, בעזה היו ?ומרי?, ??יך ?נדרלן ל? ?ומר שזה צה”ל? חוץ מזה, ההתנהלות של ישר?ל ?חרי ה?ירוע חיזקה ?ת התחושה שלי שהסיפור נכון. ל? הזמינו ?ותי לבירור, ל? פתחו בחקירה רשמית. ברגע שר?יתי ש?ף ?חד ל? שו?ל ?ותי שו? דבר ב?ופן רשמי, התחזקה ?צלי התחושה שהסיפור נכון.
This means (CAMERA’s translation):
I don’t think so. If I didn’t say that the boy and father were victims of fire coming from the IDF position, they would have said in Gaza “How did Enderlin not say this was the IDF?” Aside from that, Israel’s conduct after the incident reinforced by feeling that the story was correct. I wasn’t called in for questioning, an official investigation was not opened. As soon as I saw that no one was asking me anything officially, my feeling that the story was correct strengthened.
About this startling revelation, Richard Landes writes in Augean Stables:
Here Enderlin reveals that in the journalist’s daily and constant struggle navigating between loyalty to his sources, and loyalty to his audience, professional scruples of the most elemental sort – heavy accusations need heavy corroborating evidence – answered to the people of Gaza and neither to Israel, nor even to his professional standards. And the ease with which both he expresses it and Adi Schwartz accepts it, illustrates just how encrusted these bad attitudes had become.
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