Ha’aretz published the following correction today on page 2:

The March 28 editorial (now edited online, but without any note indicating that a change was made) had originally alleged (see below) that the soldiers had shot Shawamreh a second time, after they emerged from hiding:

The New York Times coverage today of released Palestinian prisoners embodies all that is wrong with Times coverage of Israel and the Palestinians (“Remaking a Life, After Years in an Israeli Prison,”).

About Muqdad Salah, released seven months ago after serving 24 years for the murder of 72-year-old Holocaust survivor Israel Tenenbaum, Jerusalem bureau chief Jodi Rudoren writes:

Demonized as terrorists by Israelis and lionized as freedom fighters by Palestinians, prisoners like Mr. Salah have become a flash point in the troubled peace talks . . . (Emphasis added.)

Rudoren has constructed a very neat symmetry in which two sides possess their diametrically opposed perceptions, valid or not, of the Palestinian who murdered a 72-year-old security guard.

Yes, Palestinians do lionize murderers of innocent civilians like Salah and others as “freedom fighters.” But when Israelis regard the murderer of an elderly man for nationalistic reasons as a “terrorist,” is this “demonization”? Or is it just calling it like it is?

Rudoren herself reports on the circumstances of the cold-blooded murder:

Israeli court records show Mr. Tenenbaum was found about 7:30 a.m. on June 14, 1993, lying on his back in a bed near the hotel bar, a pillow covering his bloodied face. According to the 29-page verdict convicting him of murder, Mr. Salah told investigators that he and another man had gone to Netanya in search of a Palestinian suspected of collaborating with Israel, and happened upon the guard.

The other man said, “Let’s kill him so that we did not make the trip for nothing,” the verdict quotes Mr. Salah having said. “Only when we saw the guard sleeping did we decide to kill him as a protest against the occupation.”

Perhaps the newspaper, which in its news articles routinely labels Israeli leaders (but never Palestinian leaders) “shrill,” “stubborn,” “abrasive,” “derisive,” “cynical,” ought to reflect on the meaning of “demonizing.”
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The audience at Christ at the Checkpoint, held in Bethlehem during the second week of March 2014, responds to a joke about Jews and money told by Palestinian Christian Munther Isaac. (Screenshot.)

Munther Isaac is a clever and well-educated man who did a very stupid thing at the Christ at the Checkpoint Conference that took place in Bethlehem a couple of weeks ago.

He told an antisemitic joke that, sickeningly enough, elicited laughter from Evangelical Protestants in attendance at the conference. The joke is easy to follow for people who know their New Testament.

What is most astonishing is that Munther’s joke, and the audience’s response, is all there for people to see on video here. (The joke is told at about 17 minutes and 20 seconds into the video.)

Here’s the set up.

Isaac, a Palestinian Christian and CATC conference organizer who is about to receive his Ph.D. from the Oxford Center for Mission Studies, spoke on the night of Thursday, March 13, 2014, the second to last day of the conference. The scripture he was using in his talk was the parable of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:29-37), which tells the story of a man being robbed and left for dead by the side of the road.
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Former President Jimmy Carter is apparently confused about the Israeli demand for Palestinian recognition of Israel as the Jewish state. And the historical record seems to elude him as well. The Associated Press reports on an interview with President Carter:

Various Israeli politicians have been declaring the “two-state” solution of a separate Palestinian and Israeli nations dead, and many are demanding that the Palestinians and Arabs formally recognize Israel as a Jewish state in order to discuss the Palestinian issue.

“I don’t see how the Palestinians or the Arab world can accept that premise, that Israel is an exclusively Jewish state,” Carter said.

“This has never been put forward in any of the negotiations in which I was involved as president, or any president, before (Benjamin) Netanyahu became prime minister this time. And now it has been put into the forefront of consideration,” he added.

About a fourth of Israel’s people are Arab or other non-Jewish citizens.

“Israel can claim ‘We are a Jewish state.’ I don’t think the Arab countries will contradict that Jewish statement. But to force the Arab people to say that all the Arab people that they have in Israel have to be Jews, I think that’s going too far,” Carter said.

Both President Clinton and President George W. Bush have encountered the Israeli demand for Palestinian recognition of Israel as a Jewish state put forward by the administrations of three Israeli prime ministers prior to Netanyahu.

First, a few days ago, American negotiator Dennis Ross noted that the Israeli demand for Palestinian recognition of Israel as the Jewish state came up during and immediately following the Camp David negotiations. Later, in 2003, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon listed Palestinian recognition of the Jewish state as his sixth reservation to President Bush’s Mideast “road map.” Finally, during the Annapolis talks in 2007 under Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, the Israelis again raised the issue with President Bush.

Likewise, the presumption that recognition of Israel as the Jewish state is tantamount to an “exclusively Jewish state” is equally baseless.

While The New York Times refuses to correct factual errors that appeared in an Op-Ed by former Palestinian official Ali Jarbawi, a former senior US official has provided even more evidence that the newspaper published patently false assertions.

Jarbawi claimed in his Op-Ed that Israel’s demand to be recognized as a Jewish state “did not exist in past talks; in fact, it didn’t exist until the thought occurred to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.”

This is flatly inaccurate, as CAMERA has pointed out. Israel’s call for recognition as a Jewish state was appended as an Israeli reservation to the Road Map peace plan in 2003. It was raised, and argued over, during talks between high level Israeli and Palestinian negotiators in 2007. It has been discussed in internal Palestinian memoranda.

And according to a report in Commentary, former chief US negotiator Dennis Ross suggested a few days ago that those claiming Netanyahu was the first to raise the issue in peace talks are lying. (His language was just slightly more diplomatic.)

About Israel’s call for recognition as a Jewish state, Ross said,

When I hear it said that this is the first time this issue has been raised – the people who say that think that no one knows history. Now maybe it’s true that most people don’t know history. But they should never say it to me. When we were at Camp David, this issue was raised. In the period after Camp David, before we did the Clinton Parameters, this issue was raised. This issue has been raised for obvious reasons. From the Israeli standpoint, there is a need to know that the Palestinians are committed to two states, meaning in fact that one state is Palestinian and one is the state of the Jewish people. They need to know the Palestinians are not about two states, one Palestinian and one bi-national.

Jarbawi is one of those who apparently thinks that “no one knows history.” Or perhaps he knows he can count on The New York Times to help him rewrite it.

March 24 update: The New York Times has updated its post so that it no longer describes Tel Aviv as Israel’s capital.

With alluring photographs and intriguing itineraries, The New York Times urges travelers to join its Times Journeys abroad:

Given The Times’ troubling record on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, including inconsistent reporting standards and uncorrected errors, the paper’s promise of “curated content from The Times providing history and context for the destinations” is cause for concern when it comes to The Times’ trip to Israel and the West Bank.

Indeed, already in Day 1 of the itinerary for the “The Israeli-Palestinian Conundrum,” The Times’ notoriously factually-challenged coverage makes an appearance:

Yesterday, The Washington Post commendably published a timely correction on the very same topic, making clear that Jerusalem, not Tel Aviv, is Israel’s capital.

Will The Times follow The Post‘s lead and set the record straight? Even if it does, it’s probably not realistic to hope that trip participants can expect more accurate “history and context” than that delivered up on a routine basis at the “Paper of Record.”

The Christian Science Monitor published a feature article on March 12, 2014, “Enemies, no, patients, say Israeli doctors treating Syrians,” describing the lifesaving treatment provided to wounded and ill Syrians at Western Galilee Hospital in Nahariya. In less than a year, 220 Syrians, a third of them children, have been treated at the Israeli hospital, mainly for injuries sustained in the Syrian civil war.

What is so extraordinary about this humanitarian effort is that Israel is technically at war with Syria.

The article establishes,

“Israel has a tradition of offering humanitarian assistance in war zones and natural disasters around the world, even where it is not particularly welcome. But treating Syrians, whose country is still officially at war with Israel, is not only a logistical miracle but an extraordinary exercise in humanity trumping hate.”

This Israeli humanitarian effort contrasts with the media’s frequent showcasing of the empty moral preening of so-called humanitarian groups like Amnesty International, that recently published yet another lengthy report filled with dubious accusations against Israel and academic groups like the American Studies Association who advocate boycotts of the Jewish state and its scholars. Like peacocks flashing their colorful feathers, these groups parade their so-called moral indignation to garner attention, but contribute nothing positive for either Arabs or Jews.

Meanwhile, the Israeli medical staff at Western Galilee Hospital expend time, resources and sweat to alleviate the suffering of their Arab neighbors. The Christian Science Monitor is to be commended for providing tangible evidence of the humanitarian impulse to its readers.

In 1936, a national leader wrote a letter. This is an excerpt:

…The situation of the Jews in Palestine being the strongest and most concrete proof of the importance of the religious problem among the Muslim Arabs toward anyone who does not belong to Islam. Those good Jews, who have brought to the Muslim Arabs civilization and peace, and have spread wealth and prosperity to the land of Palestine, have not hurt anyone and have not taken anything by force, and nevertheless the Muslims have declared holy war against them and have not hesitated to slaughter their children and their women despite the fact that England is in Palestine and France is in Syria. Therefore a black future awaits the Jews and the other minorities if the Mandate is cancelled and Muslim Syria is unified with Muslim Palestine. This union is the ultimate goal of the Muslim Arabs…

Who wrote this?

Suleiman Assad, the grandfather of Syria’s dictator Bashir al Assad, father of the previous dictator Hafez al Assad.

He and other Alawite leaders wrote to the Foreign Minister of France, asking the French not to end the mandate of Syria because they feared being massacred as a religious minority.

The letter sits today in the French Foreign Ministry.

AFP ran with a story citing Palestinian security forces who claimed a Palestinian from the Tulkarem area died after Israeli troops shot at his car. The media outlet, however, was forced to pull the story when PA security forces acknowledged the information was incorrect:

KILL our URGENT story Israel-Palestinians-conflict-toll,urgent “Palestinian dies after Israel troops fire on his car: Palestinians”. Palestinian security sources say their information on army gunfire was incorrect.

The Palestinian Ma’an news agency, basing its report of the car crash in part on the AFP article, included more information but still blamed Israel for the fatal car accident. near Tulkarem . According to Ma’an, the Palestinian died in car wreck due to an ‘Israeli police chase’. The Palestinian news agency did not correct.

Spanish Posts

ABC: ¿Por qué fue Merkel a Israel?
El diario español ABC se encarga de que los palestinos estén en el titular de la noticia sobre la visita de Merkel a Israel, que era relevante por otros motivos. (ReVista de Medio Oriente)

¿Dónde está la cobertura?
La prensa en español suele recoger y reproducir noticias provenientes de periódicos israelíes, siempre y cuando los hechos que relate esa noticia sirvan para reforzar la imagen de Israel que se pretenden instalar entre el público lector. (ReVista de Medio Oriente)

La agencia EFE: acusación particular contra Israel
La agencia gubernamental española presenta los argumentos de la acusación, pero en ningún momento nos permite conocer qué alega el acusado en su defensa. (ReVista de Medio Oriente)

Un elefante rosa
Es grande, ruidoso, muy visible en un lugar pequeño y, aún así, nadie quiere verlo. Lo mismo sucede con Hamas, y con los grupos terroristas que operan desde Gaza, en el marco de las conversaciones de paz entre Israel y la AP. (ReVista de Medio Oriente)

Pincelada propia
La agencia española de noticias Europa Press, tomaba el material deReuters y no podría evitar darle un giro muy propio. (ReVista de Medio Oriente)

Hamás condena la enseñanza de los DDHH en Gaza
La organización terrorista condena el curricula de la UNWRA por incluir asignaturas sobre derechos humanos. (ReVista de Medio Oriente)

5 razones que alejan a los palestinos de la paz
Utilizar los medios de comunicación para difamar a Israel y difundir odio gratuito desde la cúpula de la Autoridad Palestina, son razones de peso que alejan a los palestinos de la paz y que usan como plataforma de difusión los medios de comunicación masiva. (ReVista de Medio Oriente)

English Posts

Al-Jazeera America TV News Aims Against Israel
Twisted coverage of Israel is consistent with the network’s indirect connection through its owner to the creation of the Palestinian Hamas terrorist entity sworn to Israel’s destruction. The CEO, aiming at the opinion makers, admits to unconcern about profits and viewer ratings. (CAMERA)

Where’s the Coverage? The Truth about “Israel Apartheid Week”
The latest untold story. (CAMERA Snapshots)

Ha’aretz Veers Off Course with Ports Story
In the latest false media account of a supposed anti-Israel BDS victory, Ha’aretz incorrectly reports that two foreign companies withdrew from a ports tender due to boycott fears. (CAMERA)

When Media Cover for Palestinian Terror Groups
Martin Kramer has excellently exposed how The New York Times covers for Rashid Khalidi. (In case it’s not clear, the job of a serious newspaper is to cover the PLO spokesman-cum-professor, not cover for him.). (Snapshots)

Just the Facts: Stripping Down Ha’aretz Coverage on Airport Search
A Ha’aretz news article describes a “he said/she said” dispute about the alleged strip search of an Israeli Arab teacher. Ha’aretz headlines and opinion pieces upgrade the disputed claim to fact. (CAMERA)

Ha’aretz Lost in Translation on Strip Search
Today, in an apparent case of “lost in translation,” the Ha’aretz English edition continues to report as fact the disputed claim that Israeli Arab teacher Ezies Elias Shehada was subjected to a strip search. (Snapshots)

Mitnick, the U.S., and “Illegal” Settlements
American policy on the legality of the settlements has been consistent for decades. And Joshua Mitnick’s coverage of that policy has also been consistent. Consistently wrong, that is. (Snapshots)

Did Mahmoud Abbas outrage Syria’s Palestinian refugees by waiving their right to live?
The Guardian failed to report news that Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas had rejected an Israeli offer to allow thousands of Palestinian refugees, caught in war-torn Syria, safe travel into the West Bank and Gaza – citing his fear that they may be forced to forfeit their “right of return”. (CiF Watch)

Hebrew Posts

Yossi Sarid’s Boycott
What are the aims of the BDS Movement?. (Presspectiva)

The Media is a little too fast in reporting BDS successes
Did Dutch and Italian companies really withdraw tender application to build new ports in Israel, due to political reasons?. (Presspectiva)

Abu-Mazen’s True Position
What Abu Mazen says in English is not always identical to what he says in Arabic . (Presspectiva)

Ha’aretz No Longer a Newspaper
Has Ha’aretz decided to come out of the closet, shrugging off any pretense of being a news organization? What other explanation is there for publication of the full text of a petition by Rashid Khalidi and Judith Butler without any comment or context? (Presspectiva)

Portraying Israel as if it was North Korea
A Ha’aretz Op-ed is too happy to grossly mischarecterize and declare as a fact, incidents which are very much in dispute. (Presspectiva)

Ma’ariv Finally Corrects!
Days before an ethics committee hearing on Presspectiva’s complaint, Ma’ariv finally corrects a six month old story. (Presspectiva)