Tablet Fails to Clarify Alleged Knife Incident at Soccer Game
Oct. 31 Update: Tablet Corrects: Report of Israeli Soccer Fan Wielding Knife Unfounded
The Tablet has failed to clarify an article which claimed that an Israeli soccer fan stormed the field with a knife at a game in Jerusalem earlier this month when the Israeli national team lost to its Spanish rivals (“Spain ends Israel’s World Cup Dreams“). The subheadline stated: “And, seeking revenge, Israel fan charges the field with a knife.” In addition, the article’s final sentence stated that a fan who charged the field “was carrying a knife.”
Yet, according to AFP in Times of Israel (“Israeli police dismiss report of knife incident at Spanish match“):
Israeli police dismissed on Tuesday local media reports that a pitch invader who ran towards Spanish attacker Isco at a World Cup qualifier in Jerusalem was carrying a knife. . . .
Other Israeli media reported the allegation, but police and football officials denied it.
Police spokeswoman Luba Samri told AFP no knife was found inside the stadium.
A spokesman for the Israeli Football Association confirmed a fan ran toward Isco but said “no knife has been found.”
Though The Tablet initially indicated that it would issue a correction, as of this writing, editors have yet to do so.
Meanwhile, Ynet, which appears to be the first media outlet to report the unconfirmed knife incident as fact, has amended a headline which stated as fact that a fan who charged the field was carrying a knife. The initial headline stated: “World Cup qualifiers: Israeli fan arrested with knife near Spanish national team player.”
Following communication from CAMERA, Ynet editors slightly modified the headline, qualifying the claim that the fan carried a knife as a “report.”
The article itself nevertheless still casts the unfounded knife claim as fact and ignores the police and soccer official statements that there was no knife.
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