An article in the German newspaper Deutsche Welle reports on the consternation of members of the German government over the use of German Leopard tanks by the Turkish army in its cross-border invasion of the Kurdish enclave in Syria.

The Germans should be concerned, not only because of the use of German tanks for an act of aggression, but also because of the disturbing imagery and historical resonance associated with this aggression.

In World War I, the Ottoman Turk’s longstanding military ties with the Germans paved the way for the entrance of the Ottomans into the war against the Allies. Under the the pretext of the war, the Turkish government proceded to conduct a genocide against its Armenian minority.

Today, the Kurds are the target of the Turkish regime’s wrath.

Furthermore, the imagery of the Leopard tank, which bears a striking resemblance to the infamous World War II Tiger tank, may not be lost on German politicians concerned with Germany’s image; nor does the fact that the Kurds have the moral (and wavering military) support of the United States and fellow democratic coalition members.

Jack Sara, president of Bethlehem Bible College, either can’t recognize antisemitism when he sees it or is OK with it.

In a Facebook discussion underneath one of his articles at The Christian Post, a website that caters to English-speaking Evangelical Christians in England and the U.S., Sara express warm words of thanks to an anti-Israel commentator who called Christian supporters of Israel “shabbos goys” and hurled the epithet “Zio-supremacists” at supporters of Israel who take issue with the narrative put forth by Bethlehem Bible College. These phrases are decidedly antisemitic and most responsible Christian leaders would condemn their use.

Not Jack Sara.

In response to the ugly comments, which were issued in defense of one of his articles at The Christian Post, Sara wrote, “Mic P J Fletch Thank you so much for your affirming words, this is just a sample of what we have to keep up with such people!” (Warning: Do not click on Mic P J Fletch’s Facebook page unless you are willing to go down a deep rabbit hole of antisemitic conspiracy theories.)

Here is a screenshot of the discussion in question, with the relevant portions highlighted:
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Quartz, which describes itself as “a digitally native news outlet, born in 2012, for business people in the new global economy. We publish bracingly creative and intelligent journalism with a broad worldview,” today took heat on Twitter for inaccurate headline about a new recruitment plan for the inspectors at Israel’s Population and Immigration Authority.

The erroneous Jan. 27 headline in question reads: “Israel will pay civilians $9000 to capture African immigrants.”

But as Yair Rosenberg, a senior writer at Tablet, tweeted:

This is completely false. The Hebrew advertisement used as the source for this report is for hiring immigration and customs enforcement officers. Nothing to do with bounties for civilians. I guess the author of this can’t read Hebrew, or is relying on readers not being able to.

Perhaps Quartz, with its broad worldview and apparent lack of Hebrew skills, relied on Haaretz’s English edition for the story. Haaretz‘s English edition, whose masthead boasts that it is “Israel’s leading daily newspaper,” originally ran the following erroneous headline: “Israel to Pay $9,000 to Any Civilian Willing to Help Deport Asylum Seekers by Force” (Jan. 12).

Notably, the original headline in Haaretz‘s Hebrew edition was accurate. It did not falsely allege that civilians would be receiving bounties for rounding up asylum seekers. It states (CAMERA’s translation): “The state recruits inspectors for the deportation of asylum seekers, offers 30,000 shekel bonus.” (For more examples of “Haaretz, Lost in Translation,” or instances when misinformation about Israel appears in Haaretz‘s English edition, but not the Hebrew edition, see here.)

The English edition’s false headline remained in place until January 28, at which point editors commendably corrected it. The amended Haaretz headline now states: “Israel Recruiting Inspectors to Deport Asylum Seekers by Force, Promising $9,000 Bonus.”

Haaretz editors commendably appended the following note to the bottom of the article alerting readers to the change:

Now will Quartz exercise its intelligent journalism to likewise correct its headline?

Last updated, 12:30 pm EST: Jerusalem Post , Quartz Correct False Headline About Bounty for Civilians Who Catch Asylum Seekers

The number of Arab students in Israeli universities has grown an astonishing 78.5% over the last seven years, according to Israel’s Council for Higher Education (CHE). Although several Israeli outlets noted this new statistic, many major U.S. newspapers—including some which routinely publish commentaries labeling Israel an apartheid state—failed to do so.

CHE’s survey reported that in 2017, 16.1% of students in Israeli universities were Arab—up from 10.2% in 2010. Israeli graduate programs also witnessed an increase in Arab enrollment, from 6.2% to 13% over seven years. Similarly, Arab attendance in postgraduate programs rose “60% from 3.9% to 6.3%,” according to a Jan. 25, 2018 Times of Israel dispatch (“Number of Arab Students in Israeli Universities Grows 78% in 7 Years”).

Times of Israel reporter Dov Lieber noted that 26,000 Israeli Arabs were enrolled in higher education in 2010. By 2017, the figure was 47,000.

The CHE report was created in order to track the success of governmental programs aimed at better integrating Arab Israelis into higher education. The equivalent of eighty-eight million U.S. dollars was spent on the program from 2012-16. Its success has prompted the government to extend the program to 2022.

CHE’s survey noted that, while the program has made great strides, Israeli Arabs, as well as the Bedouin, remain underrepresented in higher education. Citing CHE, Lieber highlighted that “the only subjects in which Arab students were represented in proportion to their percentage of the population were education and medical professions.” However, fields in which Arab enrollment was previously low, such as engineering, mathematics, business administration, hard sciences and humanities, all experienced significant increases since 2010.

The Times of Israel, The Jerusalem Post, Ha’aretz, and others detailed the study’s findings. But no major U.S. news outlets did, according to a Lexis-Nexis search.

Western press outlets frequently run stories slandering Israel as an apartheid state—failing to note that Israel, like all liberal democracies, might not be perfect but nonetheless strives—under difficult circumstances—to provide a level of equality and opportunity that is unique to the region. As CAMERA has highlighted, Israeli Arabs have a vastly greater standard of living and quality of life when compared to the Arabs residing elsewhere in the Middle East. Nonetheless, many in the media fail to provide essential context, and often parrot the talking point of Israel’s critics, which single out the Jewish state for opprobrium—holding it to standards that aren’t applied to other nations.

The Washington Post (“Is Israel An ‘Apartheid State?’ This U.N. Report Says Yes,” March 16, 2017) and The New York Times (“Tempest at U.N. Over Report That Says Israel Practices Apartheid,” March 15, 2017), among others, have published reports and commentaries that often uncritically repeat claims that Israel is an apartheid state akin to pre-1991 South Africa. Both papers failed, however, to highlight Israel’s success in increasing Arab enrollment in higher education.

The United Nations Refugee and Works Agency (UNRWA) provides aid to approximately 5.3 million Palestinians which they categorize as “refugees”—but the actual number may be as low as 20,000, according to a Washington Free Beacon report by Adam Kredo (“State Department Hiding ‘Game Changer’ Report on Myth of Palestinian Refugees,” Jan. 18, 2018). The paper cited a still unreleased U.S. State Department report.

Kredo noted that:

“Multiple sources with knowledge of the situation told the Washington Free Beacon that the State Department first classified the report under the Obama administration and still refuses to provide U.S. officials with the information despite laws mandating its release.”

As CAMERA has highlighted, UNRWA has come under growing criticism by U.S. policymakers over its politicized nature, dissemination of antisemitic material, and its employee’s ties to terror groups. The U.S., UNRWA’s principal benefactor, has chosen to withhold $65 of the $125 million dollars in aid to the organization. Future installments might be conditional on UNRWA’s reform, according to the Trump administration.

The State Department report on UNRWA was commissioned in 2015, at the request of then-Senator Mark Kirk (R-Ill). However, the department did not release the report upon its completion—choosing instead to classify it. Indeed, Kredo noted that “the State Department never acknowledged having completed the report.”

Sources told The Washington Free Beacon that “there is no justification for classifying the report,” but State Department officials “do not want this information out as it could and would lead to a call to reform UNRWA.” In lieu of the recent U.S. cuts to UNRWA—and the attention that it has received from press and policymakers—keeping the report classified may be an “effort to suppress this information from Congress and the public,” according to the paper. In 2017, the U.S. Congress requested that the report be released—only to be rebuffed by the State Department.

U.S. news outlets are doing their part to suppress the information, as well.

The Free Beacon’s report was filed on Jan. 18, 2018. Fully a week later, few major U.S. news outlets have covered it. The Washington Post, The New York Times, The Baltimore Sun and others—all of whom have offered recent reports highlighting Palestinian complaints about the U.S. funding cuts—have failed to either note Kredo’s report, or to follow up on it.

Ben Bradlee, who served as The Post’s editor when it won a Pulitzer Prize for its Watergate reporting, once remarked: “If an investigative reporter finds out that someone has been robbing the store, that may be ‘gotcha’ journalism, but its also good journalism.” Apparently, it’s also rare journalism.

The President of the Palestinian Authority (PA), Mahmoud Abbas, has bought a private jet worth an estimated $50 million. The purchase comes after widely reported “major funding cuts from the U.S.,” as The Times of Israel detailed in a Jan. 24, 2018 dispatch (“Amid funding cut fears, PA purchases $50 million private jet for Abbas”). Yet, many major U.S. news outlets have failed to report Abbas’ latest acquisition.

The jet will reportedly be delivered to Amman, Jordan within the coming weeks, where it will be kept for Abbas’ use. The Times of Israel said that funding for the plane was “said to have been provided both from the PA budget ($20 million) and from the Palestinian National Fund ($30 million).”

Yet, PA officials have recently complained about cuts in funding. The U.S. has recently withheld $65 million from the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), although $60 million will still be given to the organization from the United States. As CAMERA has recently highlighted, UNRWA was established in order to settle Arab refugees created from Israel’s 1948 War of Independence, in which Arab armies sought to destroy the Jewish state. However, the organization’s staff have been caught promoting anti-Jewish violence, its facilities have been used as storage depots by terror groups, and UNRWA uses a politicized, multi-generational definition of “refugee (for more, see “The Washington Post Whitewashes UNRWA,” Jan. 5, 2018).”

UNRWA’s failures prompted the Trump administration to call for a “fundamental reexamination” of the agency, in addition to funding cuts (“Trump cuts UNRWA funding amid Abbas Assault,” The Jerusalem Post, Jan. 18, 2018).

PA officials responded to the cuts with hyperbolic language, some of which was detailed in a Washington Post reported headlined “‘A death sentence’: Palestinians slam U.S. decision to cut aid as U.N. pleads for new donors (Jan. 17, 2018).” Hanan Ashwari, a a high-ranking Palestine Liberation Organization (PL0) member and long-time media favorite, told The Post that withholding some UNRWA funds was “targeting the most vulnerable of the Palestinian people and depriving the refugees of the right to education, health, shelter and a dignified life.” Ashwari—whose history of exaggerations and falsehoods have been documented by CAMERA—also claimed that the cuts “will generate further instability in the region.”

Other major U.S. news outlets, such as The New York Times, The Baltimore Sun, and USA Today, all highlighted Palestinian complaints about the funding cuts. As of this writing, however, none of these newspapers have informed readers about the PA’s $50 million private jet purchase.

As CAMERA has frequently noted, Palestinian politics and corruption are widely underreported topics (see, for example, “For Palestinians, It’s Lights Out at The Washington Post,” The Algemeiner, June 22, 2017). No major U.S. news outlet, it seems, is interested in pointing out that if the PA was truly worried about the impact of the U.S. withholding $65 million in UNRWA aid, it could simply not buy a private jet for its kleptocratic leadership. That, or it could encourage UNRWA to reform. But that would be out of character—both for the media and for the Palestinian Authority.

After NBC anchor Andrea Mitchell posted an inaccurate and inflammatory comment on Twitter about the Knesset, Israel’s parliament, she was quickly corrected by Israeli journalists.

In her Monday morning tweet, Mitchell asserted that “the 13 Israel-Arab members” of parliament were removed from the Knesset floor after a disruption, and suggested this should be seen through the lense of American racism:

The 13 Israeli-Arab members of Israel's Parliament held up signs saying "Jerusalem is the Capital of Palestine" and were forcibly removed by security as Pence started to speak. Can you imagine Capitol Police dragging members of the congressional black caucus off the House floor?

— Andrea Mitchell (@mitchellreports) January 22, 2018

Lahav Harkov, Knesset reporter for the Jerusalem Post, responded:

Hi, I’m an expert on the Knesset and I was in the room during this incident. You have several points wrong here. I’d be happy to explain them to you.

— Lahav Harkov (@LahavHarkov) January 22, 2018

Harkov elaborated,

Wrong on several points. 1, they are not “THE 13 Israeli-Arab members” – there are others. 2, it is always against the Knesset rules to hold up signs or use props and there are examples spanning decades of ppl being removed bc of it. 3, ushers, not security guards led them out https://t.co/JgIGkUFpda

— Lahav Harkov (@LahavHarkov) January 22, 2018

Indeed, a page on the Knesset website lists 18 current Arab MKs: Talab Abu Arar, Saeed Alkharumi, Hamad Amar, Youssef Atauna, Joumah Azbarga, Zouheir Bahloul, Esawi Frej, Masud Ganaim, Abd Al Hakeem Haj Yahya, Akram Hasoon, Yousef Jabareen, Ayoob Kara, Ayman Odeh, Saleh Saad, Ahmad Tibi, Aida Touma-Sliman, Jamal Zahalka, and Hanin Zoabi.

Seth Franzman, a Jerusalem Post editor, offered another challenge to Mitchell’s numbers:

Where did you get the number 13? The 13 members of the Joint List are not all Arab. Dov Khenin is Jewish. Isn’t he still in the Knesset and a member of the Joint List? #think

— Seth Frantzman (@sfrantzman) January 22, 2018

Responding to the reference to black members of congress, political analyst Omri Ceren noted that this isn’t quite as unimaginable as Mitchell wanted her readers to think:

Oh for crying out loud Andrea. A member of the congressional black caucus was removed from the House floor just a few years ago just for a dress code violation, let alone for disrupting a session, which is what these clowns were doing.

So yeah I think I can imagine it happening. https://t.co/QISJv1XHYM

— Omri Ceren (@omriceren) January 22, 2018

As Harkov suggested, it is certainly not unimaginable for people to be removed from the Knesset floor when violating the chamber’s rules. Jewish Knesset member Moshe Gafni, for example, was escorted off the floor in response to his loud protest.

Ze’ev Elkin was not merely a member of Knesset, but also a government minister, when he was forced from the floor — at the behest of Ahmad Tibi, an Arab MK and a deputy speaker of the Knesset.

In the U.S., Janet Nguyen, the country’s first Vietnamese-American woman state legislator, was removed from the floor of the California state senate just last year.

According to the policies and guidelines of NBC News, Twitter posts “should meet the journalistic standards of NBC News.” CAMERA has contacted NBC editors. We will update this space if Mitchell corrects her tweet.

Update Appended to Bottom of Post: AFP Removes Misleading Reference to ‘Smuggling’ Tunnels
A series of Agence France Presse photo captions earlier this week misleadingly identified the tunnel discovered under the Kerem Shalom crossing, extending from Gaza into Israeli territory, as “smuggling tunnels” [sic], despite the fact that the Israeli army has said it is an offensive attack tunnel.

According to Haaretz:

In contrast to Hamas’ claims that the tunnel was used for smuggling goods, the IDF unequivocally stated that it was an attack tunnel used to smuggle in weapons, terrorists and other operatives into Israel in order to carry out terror attacks.

A sampling of the captions with the misleading reference to “smuggling tunnels,” as if the tunnel was intended to illegally move flour, livestock or other harmless goods across the border, follows.

Palestinian security forces loyal to the Palestinian Authority (L), walk at the Kerem Shalom crossing, the main passage point for goods entering Gaza, after is was closed by Israel following the discovery of smuggling tunnels underneath the crossing, in the southern Gaza Strip town of Rafat on January 14, 2018.
SAID KHATIB / AFP

A Palestinian security man closes the gate of the Kerem Shalom crossing, the main passage point for goods entering Gaza, after it was closed by Israel following the discovery of smuggling tunnels underneath the crossing, in the southern Gaza Strip town of Rafat on January 14, 2018.

Palestinians ride a donkey and cart near the Kerem Shalom crossing, the main passage point for goods entering Gaza, after is was closed by Israel following the discovery of smuggling tunnels underneath the crossing, in the southern Gaza Strip town of Rafat on January 14, 2018.
SAID KHATIB / AFP

But as AFP itself reported (“Israel destroys tunnel from Gaza it says intended for attacks“):

Israel said Sunday it used a combination of air strikes and other means to destroy a tunnel stretching from the Gaza Strip into the country and continuing into Egypt.

Israeli military spokesman Jonathan Conricus said the tunnel belonged to Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas, which runs the Gaza Strip, and was intended for attacks as opposed to smuggling.

Such tunnels have been used to carry out attacks in the past.

In particular, in 2014, Hamas used a similar tunnel to infiltrate into Israeli territory and kill five soldiers.

As of this writing, AFP has failed to clarify its captions which echo Hamas’ dubious claim that the tunnel’s purpose was to smuggle goods.

See also: AFP Last to Correct Its Own Arabic Mistranslation

Update, 6:20 a.m. EST: AFP Removes Misleading Reference to ‘Smuggling’ Tunnels

AFP has amended all of the captions, removing the misleading reference to “smuggling tunnels.” The captions still erroneously refer to the discovery of tunnels (in plural), though the discovery of just one tunnel was announced this week.

Palestinians ride a donkey and cart near the Kerem Shalom crossing, the main passage point for goods entering Gaza, after is was closed by Israel following the discovery of tunnels underneath the crossing, in the southern Gaza Strip town of Rafat on January 14, 2018.

BBC and The Guardian, clients of Agence France Presse photo service, along with Getty Images, a distribution partner of AFP, have all corrected an AFP photo caption which mistranslated an Arabic sign about the boycott of Israeli good. Only AFP has failed to answer CAMERA’s call to correct.

Though the inaccurate captions in question date to 2015, last week they again appeared on numerous news sites due to the Israeli Strategic Affairs Ministry publication of a list of 20 BDS organizations whose key activists will be denied entry into Israel. The captions wrongly state that the pictured sign is “calling to boycott Israeli products coming from Jewish settlements.” In fact, the Arabic writing on that sign makes no reference whatsoever to a selective boycott of “Israeli products coming from Jewish settlements.” The sign actually states: “Boycott your occupation…support your country’s produce.”

Moreover, the sign is credited to “the national campaign for boycott of the occupation and its goods” along with two other groups.

A tourist photographs a sign painted on a wall in the West Bank biblical town of Bethlehem on June 5, 2015, calling to boycott Israeli products coming from Jewish settlements. The international BDS (boycott, divestment and sanctions) campaign, that pushes for a ban on Israeli products, aims to exert political and economic pressure over Israel’s occupation of the Palestinian territories in a bid to repeat the success of the campaign which ended apartheid in South Africa. AFP PHOTO / THOMAS COEX

Palestinians walk past a sign painted on a wall in the West Bank biblical town of Bethlehem on June 5, 2015, calling to boycott Israeli products coming from Jewish settlements. The international BDS (boycott, divestment and sanctions) campaign, that pushes for a ban on Israeli products, aims to exert political and economic pressure over Israel’s occupation of the Palestinian territories in a bid to repeat the success of the campaign which ended apartheid in South Africa. AFP PHOTO / THOMAS COEX

In response to communication from CAMERA’s BBC Watch, BBC commendably corrected the caption on its site, which now accurately says the sign is “calling for a boycott of Israeli products.”

Also as a result of BBC Watch’s communication, Getty Images, which is a distribution partner with AFP, also amended its caption to accurately refers to a “boycott of Israeli boycotts.”

In addition, in response to communication from CAMERA’s UK Media Watch, The Guardian also corrected the AFP caption which it had used. The Guardian also commendably appended a note alerting readers that on January 12 “the picture caption which contained a mistranslation” was amended.

Only AFP has failed to correct its own caption in violation of the news agency’s Editorial Standards and Best Practices, which states:

Particular vigilance is needed during translation and proofreading of graphics, with regard to both the text and graphic elements. Good proof reading comprises three phases: the coherence and general relevance of the graphic, the text content (form and shape, spelling, font,) and the graphic content (accuracy, choice of colours).

Update, 8:10 am EST: For Second Time, Haaretz English Edition Corrects on Abu Thuraya’s Leg Injury

Despite the fact that Haaretz‘s earlier this month corrected a photo caption which inaccurately reported on the unclear circumstances regarding the death of double amputee Ibrahim Abu Thuraya, along with the circumstances in which he lost his legs, the Israeli daily’s English edition continues to get the facts wrong.

Thus, in the English edition, Amira Hass’ Jan. 8 Op-Ed (“One Palestinian More or Less, What Does It Matter to the Israeli Army?”), misleadingly refers to “Abu Thuraya, whose legs had been amputated after an Israeli air strike nine years ago.”

Abu Thuraya injured his legs in a clash with soldiers, and not in an air strike. Haaretz ran this AP story last month stating:

While relatives have claimed Abu Thraya lost his legs in an Israeli airstrike while trying to rescue people, AP records show that he was wounded on April 11, 2008, in a clash between Israeli forces and Palestinian militants in the Bureij refugee camp in central Gaza. AP television footage from that day shows Abu Thraya identifying himself as he is taken away on the back of a pickup truck. He is also seen being taken on a stretcher.

The Hebrew version of Hass’ Op-Ed does not claim that Abu Thuraya lost his legs in an Israeli air strike. It states (CAMERA’s translation):

Less than two weeks after he wrote this, the army’s criminal investigation unit announced that it would investigate the circumstances of the death of Ibrahim Abu Thuraya, a double amputee.