IHT Rezones Tourist Destination as Military Training Area

By Published On: May 5, 2013

The International Herald Tribune ran the following photograph and caption across four columns at the top of page 7 on Friday:

iht har bental military.jpg

The caption reads:

A military training zone Thursday in the Golan Heights, which Israel captured from Syria in the 1967 war. Mr. Netanyahu rejects any mention of the 1967 lines as the basis for talks.

The iconic signs indicating the distances to Baghdad, Amman, Damascus, and Jerusalem, among other Middle Eastern cities, is situated at a lookout point on Mount (or Har) Bental in the Golan Heights. The Mount Bental lookout is a tourist destination, not a military training zone.

The original Reuters caption got it right:

A sign post near Kibbutz Merom Golan in the Golan Heights shows the distance from Israel’s northern border to other destinations May 2, 2013. Israel’s military said on Tuesday it had called up hundreds of reservists for a drill in northern Israel where tensions are high with neighbours Syria and Lebanon, but a military spokesman said there was no change in the overall security situation. Israel captured the Golan Heights from Syria in the 1967 Middle East war and annexed the territory in 1981, a move not recognised internationally. REUTERS/Nir Elias

Here are photographs of tourists by the famous Mount Bental signs:

bental tourists chameleons eye.jpg
Israelis visit on Mount Bental on August 23 2009 in the Golan Heights, Israel.Israel captured it in 1967 war and annexed it in 1981 in a move not recognized internationally.Photo by Rafael Ben-Ari/Chameleons Eye

bental tourist camera.jpg
A tourist takes a photo of a sign showing different distances, including Damascus, near an old army outpost on Mount Bental in the Golan Heights, Israel, July 27, 2012. Israelis and tourists are visiting the sight to look into Syria from Mount Bental. Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has warned that he could use chemical weapons if Syria is attacked by an external force. UPI/Debbie Hill

The Tribune ought to correct this factual error, which is at least as substantive as the error which was corrected in today’s paper:

An article on Friday about charges that have been filed against three friends of Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, the surviving suspect in the Boston Marathon Bombings, described incorrectly a visit between Mrs. Tsarnaev and another friend who was charged, Dias Kadyrbayev. When the two chatted outside Mr. Tsarnaev’s dormitory two days after the explosions, it was Mr. Kadyrbayev who smoked a cigarrete, not Mr. Tsarnaev.

Stay tuned for news of a correction.

May 9 Update: CAMERA Prompts Correction on Golan Heights

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