Yesterday, Haaretz ran a news analysis by veteran reporter Chemi Shalev which, in part, castigated President Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu for depicting “the media’s reports and opinions . . . as ‘fake news'” (“By Bashing the Media, Trump and Netanyahu Foster Their Tribalist, Right-wing Support“). Ironically, Haaretz today published a correction about that very column, clarifying that “a quote was attributed erroneously to Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked, which she did not say.”

What exactly was the quote “which she did not say”? Shalev wrote:

Reacting to allegations made last year by Police Chief Roni Alsheikh that police officers investigating Netanyahu were being harassed and followed, Shaked noted that the police commander was “the new protected darling of the left and the media.”

But as Israeli journalist Amit Segal (of Channel 2 and Makor Rishon) tweeted, the quote, in fact, derives from an anonymous talkback to an article in Rotter, an Israeli news site, which mentions both Alsheikh and Shaked in the context of investigations of Netanyahu.

That Haaretz was compelled to correct a fake quote in a news analysis, which ironically dismissed complaints about “fake news” as a deplorable political ploy, is reminiscent of a recent New York Times correction later dubbed “the correction of the year.”

Haaretz deleted the fake quote from its digital article, but, contrary to standard journalistic practice, did not alert readers to the change.

A New York Times caption which definitively claims that Layla Ghandour “fell ill after inhaling tear gas,” despite the fact that the accompanying article itself acknowledges that the story involving tear gas was disputed

Western media outlets have largely ignored a significant development in the story of eight-month-old Layla al-Ghandour of the Gaza Strip, whose May 15 death was widely reported when her family claimed that she accidentally ended up at the border clashes and was killed by Israel’s use of tear gas. According to the indictment of Layla’s relative, Mahmoud Omar, Hamas paid the family to claim that tear gas caused her death though the real culprit was a blood condition, which also killed her brother the year before.

According to Haaretz (“Hamas Paid Gaza Family $2,200 to Blame Israel for Baby’s Death, Indictment Says“):

Under interrogation in Israel, Omar, who is Layla al-Ghandour’s cousin, said Hamas leader Sinwar paid the baby’s family 8,000 shekels ($2,200) to accuse Israel of the death of the 8-month-old. The claim came despite the fact that members of the family had previously said that she died of a blood disorder, a condition that the baby’s six-month-old brother apparently also died of last year.

When news surfaced of the claim that Layla al-Ghandour had died from inhaling tear gas, Israeli army officials cast doubt on the allegation, saying that the army had evidence that called the family’s claim into question.

According to the indictment against Omar, on the day that Layla al-Ghandour died, Omar’s mother called him while he was participating in a demonstration near the border fence and told him about the child’s death. Omar is said to have been told on returning home that the baby had died of the same blood disease that took the life of her brother.

Numerous media outlets which dedicated entire stories to the disputed circumstances of Layla’s death, and others which unequivocally blamed it on tear gas, despite the fact that the Associated Press had reported that a Gaza doctor noted the preexisting condition and expressed doubt that she was killed by tear gas, have ignored the new information concerning Hamas’ alleged payment to the family.

Exceptions to the vast majority of Western media outlets which ignored the development, UPI and Agence France Presse did commendably report that Omar said Hamas leader Yihya Sinwar paid his family to falsely blame Layla’s death on tear gas.

This is a screenshot of a video of a June 18, 2018 meeting in an office of the America’s Center Convention Complex in St. Louis, Missouri. The meeting took place after the person recording the video, Bassem Masri, posted video of himself harassing Palestinian human rights activist Bassem Eid in the convention center. The man on the far right is Fahed Abu Akel, past moderator of the PCUSA. (Screenshot from www.pscp.tv.)

By now Snapshots readers are familiar with Bassem Masri’s ugly harassment of Palestinian reformer Bassem Eid at the General Assembly (GA) of the Presbyterian Church (USA) currently taking place at the America’s Center Convention Complex in St. Louis, Missouri. (The GA, which will ratify a number of overtures condemning Israel while remaining silent about the misdeeds of Hamas and the Palestinian Authority, ends tomorrow.)*

What they don’t know is how a prominent Presbyterian leader, former moderator Fahed Abu Akel, defended Masri’s “right” to stay in the convention center even after abusing Eid, who was an invited guest of Presbyterians for Middle East Peace. Nor do they know that Akel said that the victim of Masri’s abuse, had “lied” to the General Assembly’s Middle East Committee.

Here’s the rundown:
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Palestinian human rights activist Bassem Eid walks away from an aggressive and hostile “intersectionality” activist Bassem Masri outside the Presbyterian Church (USA)’s General Assembly taking place in St. Louis. (Screenshot from Twitter.)

Palestinian human rights activist Bassem Eid was harassed and accused of being a “traitor,” a “spy” and a collaborator after criticizing Palestinian elites at the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church, USA currently being held in St. Louis, Missouri.

These accusations, which, in Palestinian society, could be used to justify violence against Eid, were leveled by Palestinian American activist Bassem Masri, who was attending the proceedings at the invitation of the Israel-Palestine Mission Network of the Presbyterian Church, a PCUSA institution with a long history of promoting hostility toward Israel and its Jewish supporters in the United States.

Curiously enough, Masri himself videotaped himself harassing Eid and then posted the videos on Twitter. In the videos, which were posted on Twitter on Monday June 18, 2018, Masri can be heard accusing Eid of betraying the Palestinian people. In one video, Masri calls Eid, “a f—–g collaborator,” a “piece of s—t” and a “sympathizer with the Zionists.” In another video, Masri calls Eid gasus — Arabic for spy. “He speaks on behalf of the Jewish lobby,” Masri said.

These accusations could very well incite people to harm Eid, a regular speaker in the United States, upon his return home. (Eid divides his time between East Jerusalem and Jericho.) “People will watch the video where I am called a traitor. This is a clear call to kill me,” Eid said.

Despite the hostility directed at him by Masri, the videos indicate Eid kept his composure during the confrontations. At one point, Eid asks Masri to stop talking to him. Masri refused.

“I can talk to whomever I want,” Masri says in the video. “Call the police. This is America. I have freedom of speech.” At this point, Eid says, “You are threatening me. You said you are going to kill me.”

In response, Masri calls Eid a liar. “You’re a collaborator with the Israelis. You’re an Arab Zionist.” Moments later, Masri declares “You’re turning your back on your people.”

Eid says that prior to taking the videos, Masri twice threatened to kill him.
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June 20 Update: Multiple Media Outlets Amend Captions Calling Gaza Arsonists ‘Activists’

Numerous Agence France-Presse photo captions in the last couple of days misidentify Gazans responsible for airborne arson attacks which destroyed 28,000 dunums of Israeli farmland and nature reserve land. The smoke from these deliberately set fires two days ago caused 1000 turkeys to choke to death. The arsonists also launched explosives-laden kites and balloons across the border, reaching a highway and even the roof of a home.

AFP captions misidentified these serial arsonists as “activists” or “protesters.” A sampling of these erroneous captions follows:

Palestinian activists fill hilum [sic] gas in a ballon [sic] that will be attached to flammable materials to be flown toward Israel, at the Israel-Gaza border, in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip on June 17, 2018. SAID KHATIB / AFP

A Palestinian protester holds a bag containing with flammable materials that will be attached to ballons [sic] and flown toward Israel, at the Israel-Gaza border, in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip on June 17, 2018.
SAID KHATIB / AFP

An Israeli man and a boy extinguish a fire in a filed next to Kibbutz Beeri reportedly caused by inflamable [sic] material attached to kites and flown across the border to Israel by activists in the Gaza strip on June 18, 2018. Kite-borne fire bombings have reportedly caused significant damage to Israeli fields.
MENAHEM KAHANA / AFP

“Arson” refers to the very specific crime of purposefully setting property on fire, which is precisely what these people are doing. But AFP did not once use this clear and accurate terminology, and instead opts for the misleading and grossly inaccurate terms: “activists” and “protesters.”

Haaretz‘s English print edition yesterday published one of the AFP captions which had referred to “A masked Palestinian activist launches a balloon with flammable material . . . ” Haaretz editors went to the trouble of amending the caption: changing the wording from “activist” to “protester.”

See also: “CAMERA Prompts Improved Reuters Captions on Palestinian Arson Attacks,” June 5

A grossly misleading Newsweek headline (“Israel Bombs Syria to Stop Refugees Fleeing to Europe, Netanyahu Says,” June 14) falsely suggests that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that Israel is bombing Syria in order to stop refugees from fleeing to Europe.

He did not. According to Haaretz, he did cast Israeli attacks on Syria — meant to prevent the flow of Iranian weapons to Hezbollah and to curb Iranian entrenchment in Syria — “as potentially helping to stem a Syrian Sunni Muslim refugee exodus to Europe.” In other words, Israel’s attacks, meant to curb Iran in Syria, also may have the by-product of slowing the tide of refugees, he reportedly stated.

Haaretz elaborated:

Netanyahu accused Iran, which has been helping Damascus beat back a seven-year-old rebellion, of bringing in 80,000 Shi’ite fighters from countries like Pakistan and Afghanistan to mount attacks against Israel and “convert” Syria’s Sunni majority.

“That is a recipe for a re-inflammation of another civil war – I should say a theological war, a religious war – and the sparks of that could be millions more that go into Europe and so on … And that would cause endless upheaval and terrorism in many, many countries,” Netanyahu told an international security forum.

“Obviously we are not going to let them do it. We’ll fight them. By preventing that – and we have bombed the bases of this, these Shi’ite militias – by preventing that, we are also offering, helping the security of your countries, the security of the world.”

CAMERA has contacted Newsweek to request clarification of the headline. Stay tuned for an update.

June 19 Update: Amended Headline is No Improvement

Newsweek yesterday amended the flawed headline, but unfortunately the newer version is neither more clear nor more accurate. It states: “Israel Bombs Syria, Stopping Refugees Fleeing to Europe, Netanyahu Says.”

CAMERA notes Haaretz‘s straight-forward and accurate headline on the very same subject: “Israeli Strikes on Iranian Targets in Syria Slowed Refugee Flow to Europe, Claims Netanyahu.” Haaretz‘s reference to “strikes on Iranian targets” makes clear that Iran was the target of the Israeli strikes. In contrast, both the original and the amended Newsweek headlines mislead, falsely suggesting that Israeli bombings of Syria were directed at refugees, or at stopping them from fleeing to Europe.

CAMERA continues to call on Newsweek to clarify its headline.

A June 15 Los Angeles Times sports article (online here, “Lionel Messi needs a World Cup while Iceland is just happy to be playing in one”), Kevin Baxter errs about the Argentinian team’s cancellation of the game against Israel in Jerusalem:

First the Argentines were routed 6-1 by Spain, then starting goalkeeper Sergio Romero was sidelined because of an injury and then on their way to Russia they caused an international incident by stopping in Jerusalem to play Israel in a friendly.

That didn’t get a friendly greeting from the Palestinians, so the Argentine soccer association canceled the game.

The team never “stopped” in Jerusalem. The trip itself — not just the game — was canceled following Palestinian threats to the team. Moreover, the euphemistic statement that the Argentinians “didn’t get a friendly greeting from the Palestinians” covers up the fact that players and their families received death threats which the Argentine foreign minister termed “worse than ISIS” (“Argentine soccer team cancels match in Israel amid death threats against Messi“).

Significantly, FIFA has begun proceedings against the Palestinian Football Association chief. AFP reported June 14 (“FIFA says acting over Palestinian FA chief’s Messi comment”):

FIFA said Thursday it has started disciplinary proceedings against the Palestinian Football Association’s chief, after he called for protest against Lionel Messi and his plan to play with Argentina in Jerusalem.

“The FIFA disciplinary committee has opened disciplinary proceedings against the president of the Palestinian Football Association, Jibril Rajoub,” a spokesman for the world body said in a statement to AFP.

Its decision, he wrote, “came as a result of his statements, widely reported in the media, with respect to the international friendly match that was scheduled to take place on 9 June 2018 between Israel and Argentina.”

He said he could not elaborate while the proceedings were ongoing.

Rajoub had demanded that the Barcelona star not take part in the pre-World Cup friendly against Israel and called on fans to burn shirts bearing his name if he did.

Messi, Rajoub said at a June 3 press conference, “has tens of millions of fans in the Arab and Muslim countries… we ask everyone to burn their shirts which bear his name and posters (with his image).”

CAMERA has contacted The Los Angeles Times to request a correction. Stay tuned for an update.

See also: “CAMERA Prompts Washington Post Correction On Canceled Jerusalem Soccer Match“

June 21 Update: Stealth Correction

The Los Angeles Times has issued a stealth correction to the online article, quietly changing the false reference to the Argentinians “stopping in Jerusalem” to “planning a trip to Jerusalem.” Contrary to standard journalistic practice, The Los Angeles Times has not informed readers of the change. Also, as of this writing, the article was not corrected in print. Finally, the article still does not explain that the Palestinian’s less than “friendly greeting” included death threats.

In a June 7 broadcast and online here, Ben Wedeman incorrectly reported that in the course of the ongoing “March of Return” violence at the Gaza border, “No Israeli soldiers were killed or injured during the protests.”

The IDF Spokesperson’s Unit has confirmed to CAMERA that in the course of the “March of Return” clashes, between March 30 and June 12, 11 soldiers have been injured in the violent events at the border. This figure does not include soldiers injured by rocket and mortar attacks during this time period.

CAMERA has relayed the information to CNN and urges the network to correct. Stay tuned for an update.

Hezbollah, the Lebanese-based, Iranian-backed terrorist group is helping Hamas build rocket factories and terror training camps in southern Lebanon, according to a Jerusalem Post report. Hezbollah’s assistance violates several United Nations Security Council Resolutions. But it does not, apparently, merit news coverage.

A June 10, 2018 dispatch by Jerusalem Post military correspondent Anne Ahronheim noted that Israel has called for the U.N. to intervene. Israel’s Ambassador to the UN, Danny Danon, said:

“Hamas is strengthening its ties with Hezbollah. With the approval and support of Iran, Hamas is working to establish its capabilities in Lebanese territory as well. The cooperation between Hezbollah and Hamas crosses borders. Israel does not intend to sit idly when facing new and old threats and will do whatever is necessary to protect its citizens.”

Like Hezbollah, Hamas is a U.S.-designated terrorist organization. Both groups call for Israel’s destruction and are fiercely antisemitic and anti-American.

Israel noted that Hezbollah’s decision to aid the Gaza Strip-based Hamas violates UNSCR 1701 which, among other things, calls for the “full implementation of the relevant provisions of the Taif Accords, and of resolutions 1559 (2004) and 1680 (2006), that require the disarmament of all armed groups in Lebanon, so that, pursuant to the Lebanese cabinet decision of 27 July 2006, there will be no weapons or authority in Lebanon other than that of the Lebanese State.”

That is, Hezbollah’s decision—indeed the existence of Hezbollah itself in Lebanon, where it exerts de facto control of the government—is a violation of the Taif Accords, and other United Nations resolutions.

As CAMERA noted in a March 28, 2018 Washington Examiner Op-Ed entitled “Israel may be facing a five-front war,” Iran and its terror proxies, including Hezbollah and Hamas, may be preparing to attack the Jewish state from several different fronts. Yet, the media has largely ignored this growing security challenge. Many major U.S. news outlets, including The Washington Post, The Baltimore Sun, Politico, and others, failed to report Israel’s request for U.N. intervention.

Hezbollah has a long history of working with and training Palestinian terrorist groups. The Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) trained Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, as CAMERA documented in a May 16, 2018 Jerusalem Post Op-Ed (“How the PLO Helped Create Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards”). The IRGC itself trained—indeed, largely created—Hezbollah, which later worked with the Guards to train operatives from Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ), and al-Qaeda in Lebanon’s Bekka Valley. As Ronen Bergman recounted in his 2018 book Rise and Kill First: The Secret History of Israel’s Targeted Assassinations, Hezbollah passed its knowledge of suicide and car bombings—employed in Lebanon in the 1980s—to the other terrorist groups.

The head of Hamas in Gaza, Yahya Sinwar, declared on May 22, 2018 that his group had “excellent” relations with Hezbollah. The press—which at the time was busy omitting Hamas’s role in orchestrating violent demonstrations at the Israel-Gaza border—largely failed to report Sinwar’s comments and also downplayed Iran’s support for the violent “protests” which themselves mimicked a tactic employed by Hezbollah on Israel’s northern border on May 15, 2011 (“The Palestinian ‘Return March:’ A Futile Publicity Stunt,” Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, March 28, 2018).

According to The Jerusalem Post (“Heavy Turnout at Al-Quds Rally in Berlin Calls for Israel’s Destruction“), participants at the June 9 anti-Israel Al Quds march in Berlin chanted “Zionists are the perpetrators” and “Zionists anywhere, you will lose everywhere.” The Jerusalem Post detailed:

A photograph of the protest showed a sign comparing Zionism to Nazis. Lebanese flags were also on display. Many of the marchers were Hezbollah supporters and members. Berlin’s domestic intelligence agency said in 2017 that 250 Hezbollah members operate in the capital city. The US, Israel, the Arab League, Canada and the Netherlands designated all of Hezbollah a terrorist organization. Germany refuses to outlaw all of Hezbollah.

A pro-boycott Israel sign was also shown at the rally, with the words: “Boycott Israel, Free Palestine.” Berlin’s total population is roughly 3.7 million.

“The law entitles the radical Muslim organization, with conditions, to assemble. A demonstration against the existence of Israel on the streets of Berlin is still intolerable,” BZ journalist Kai Ritzmann wrote on Saturday.

BILD journalist Antje Schippmann tweeted, “Also again at today’s antisemitic al-Quds march in Berlin: Ayatollah Hamidreza Torabi.”

Torabi, who heads the Islamic Academy of Germany – part of the Iranian regime owned Islamic Center of Hamburg, is a key organizer of the al-Quds. The Islamic Center buses pro-Hezbollah and pro-Iranian regime members and activists to the annual event.

Yet Agence France Presse captions about the march maintained that participants were “against the presence of Jewish settlements in Israeli-occupied territories,” ignoring that they actually oppose Zionism, and thus the existence of the Jewish state in any borders, not just in the West Bank.

A sampling of AFP’s erroneous captions falsely alleging that the protesters merely oppose Israeli settlements follows. (Note the sign calling for the boycott of Israel, not just the settlements. Note also the presence of the anti-Israel Jewish sect Neturai Karta with signs stating “Zionism and Judaism are extreme opposites.” There is zero indication that the marchers are simply opposed to Jewish settlements in the West Bank.)

A protester holds a sign reading “Boycott Israel, free Palestine” during a Quds-day Demonstration on the occasion of the so-called “Al-Quds day” in Berlin, on June 9, 2018. The “Quds day” (the day of Jerusalem), a commemoration first initiated by Iran in 1979 to fall on the last Friday of the holy month of Ramadan expresses support for displaced Palestinians and against the presence of Jewish settlements in Israeli-occupied territories.
Tobias SCHWARZ / AFP

Protesters hold signs reading “Zionism and Judaism are extreme opposites” during a Quds-day Demonstration on the occasion of the so-called “Al-Quds day” in Berlin, on June 9, 2018. The “Quds day” (the day of Jerusalem), a commemoration first initiated by Iran in 1979 to fall on the last Friday of the holy month of Ramadan expresses support for displaced Palestinians and against the presence of Jewish settlements in Israeli-occupied territories. Tobias SCHWARZ / AFP

Protesters take part in a Quds-day Demonstration on the occasion of the so-called “Al-Quds day” in Berlin, on June 9, 2018. The “Quds day” (the day of Jerusalem), a commemoration first initiated by Iran in 1979 to fall on the last Friday of the holy month of Ramadan expresses support for displaced Palestinians and against the presence of Jewish settlements in Israeli-occupied territories. Tobias SCHWARZ / AFP

CAMERA has contacted AFP to request corrections of these captions. As of this writing, AFP has yet to set the record straight.

See also: “AFP Last to Correct Its Own Arabic Mistranslation“