In Jordan Valley, Ha’aretz Just Lost
On dozens of occasions, we have noted instances of “Ha’aretz, Lost in Translation,” in which misinformation finds its way into the English edition of Ha’aretz, while the corresponding, original Hebrew item is correct.
Our latest case, a Jan. 2 photo caption on page 2 of the English print edition, is a variation on the theme that we previously saw a couple of months ago: the original source, the Associated Press, is in English. Yet, the Ha’aretz English edition still gets it wrong. Ha’aretz‘s caption for the AP photo states:
Palestinians near Jericho protesting the announcement by Israel that it had voted to extend Israeli law over parts of the Jordan Valley
Except, Israel never announced “that it had voted to extend Israeli law over parts of the Jordan Valley,” because it never voted to do so. Rather, as recently reported by Ha’aretz itself, the bill passed a vote in the Ministerial Committee for Legislation, but it is far from becoming law:
Following the vote, Justice Minister Tzipi Livni and Science and Technology Minister Jacob Perry appealed the vote. Now, this hot potato will return to Netanyahu, who will have to find a way to freeze the bill and prevent it from reaching the Knesset plenum, where the government would vote on the issue.
The original caption sent out by the Associated Press was factually accurate, citing a “proposed Israeli bill seeking to annex the Jordan valley”:
While Ha’aretz‘s English staff had trouble with the English caption, the Hebrew staff managed just fine. The Hebrew edition ran a similar photograph from the Agence-France Press and is got the caption right, noting that the vote legislation to annex the Jordan Bill was no more than a bill:
It reads (CAMERA’s translation):
Palestinians and foreigners demonstrate against the Israeli bill to annex the Jordan Valley settlements, yesterday near Jericho
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