Despite the fact that just last month Haaretz corrected a news story which erred on the status of east Jerusalem Arabs, an April 10 editorial again misrepresents about the rights of this population, stating:

Palestinians in Jerusalem, comprising almost 40 percent of its population, are not citizens of the country. . .

In fact, as last month’s correction indicated, some seven percent of east Jerusalem Arabs hold citizenship.

The Independent also corrected the identical error last month. The Independent‘s March 11 article originally stated that “Arabs living in [Jerusalem] do not have citizenship.”

Following communication from CAMERA’s UK Media Watch, The Independent corrected its story, which now accurately reports that “most Arabs” in the city don’t have citizenship.

In March 2015, CAMERA prompted a New York Times correction which made clear that those Jerusalem Arabs with Israeli citizenship may vote for Knesset election.

As of this writing, Haaretz has failed to amend its editorial.

Reuters published a series of photographs March 26 depicting, according to the captions, “a marathon in the southern Gaza Strip Monday.” The full caption on all of the Reuters photographs below reads:

Palestinians attend a marathon near the border with Israel, in the southern Gaza Strip March 26, 2018. REUTERS/Ibraheem Abu Mustafa

Without any additional information and context, readers would assume that these young Palestinian bikers are out for some good wholesome, patriotic (as indicated by the flags) fun exercise, (which should be good news to Hami Almadhoun of American Near East Refugee Aid (ANERA), who has insisted that Gaza’s polluted beach provide the only recreation.)

But there’s more to the Gaza bike “marathon” than Reuters is saying. The Arabic signs on the boys’ bikes state (translation by CAMERA Arabic): The Return March, Islamic Jihad Movement.

The United States, the European Union, Israel and Canada all regard Islamic Jihad as a terror organization. The biking event is part of the preparation for this Friday’s Hamas and Islamic Jihad-backed “Right of Return” march, an campaign to formally kick off this Friday, Passover eve, in which thousands of Gazans will converge on Israel’s borders.

Gazan Tour de France this is not. Another photo agency, Agence France Presse, in contrast to Reuters, at least gave the minimal context regarding the nature of the Islamic Jihad-backed biking event. Its captions state:

Palestinian children ride bikes near the border with Israel on the outskirts of Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip, as they take part in the “Right of Return” cycling race on March 26, 2018.

Haaretz, “Israel’s leading daily newspaper,” ran one of the Reuters images on the top of yesterday’s front page with the inadequate caption: “Palestinians attending a marathon in the southern Gaza Strip Monday.”

Last week, Ahed Tamimi, the Palestinian teen filmed while she was hitting an Israeli soldier, reached a plea agreement in which she was sentenced to eight months in prison, including three months already served, plus a 5,000 shekel fine. As Haaretz‘s Hebrew edition reported (CAMERA’s translation):

Tamimi, who was filmed hitting a soldier, was sentenced to eight months in prison, three of which she already served, and a fine of 5,000 shekels.

The English version of the same article by Yotam Berger, however, dropped the fact that the sentence included time already served. It states (“Palestinian Teen Ahed Tamimi Reaches Plea Bargain, to Serve 8 Months in Israeli Prison“):

Palestinian teen Ahed Tamimi reached a plea bargain with military prosecution on Wednesday, according to which she is to be sentenced to eight months in prison. … In addition to the eight month jail sentence, she is to pay a fine of 5,000 shekels ($1,437).

In addition, a second story on Haaretz‘s English site, attributed to both Reuters and Haaretz, also does not include the information about the three months served.

While The Evening Standard has commendably added this information after initially omitting it, as of this writing Haaretz has yet to add the fact that Tamimi’s sentence includes the three months served.

For more instances of “Haaretz, Lost in Translation,” please see here.

Rise above the noise! Go below the surface! Enjoy top-quality reporting, enjoins a recent Los Angeles Times ad campaign.

Instead, though, a recent movie review provides readers with noise instead of top-quality reporting, erroneously stating about the 1976 hijacking of Air France Flight 139:

In June 1976, two German and two Palestinian revolutionaries — the nomenclature varies from “freedom fighter” to “terrorist” depending on which side you’re on — hijacked an Air France flight from Tel Aviv to Paris and directed it to Entebbel, Uganda, to demand the release of 52 political prisoners. (“Negotiations, maneuvers in a fine political thriller,” page E5, and online here. Emphasis added.)

The term “political prisoner” has a very distinct and well understood definition, and applies to those imprisoned for their political views. This definition does not apply to the 53 convicted terrorists, 40 held in Israel, six in West Germany, five in Kenya, and one each in Switzerland and France, whose release the hijackers demanded.

For instance, among them was Kozo Okamoto, a Japanese terrorist who carried out a deadly 1972 attack in Israel’s Lod Airport, killing 24 people. Ronald Fritsch, a member of an offshoot of the Baader-Meinhof group and imprisoned in West German, was convicted of the 1975 kidnapping of politician Peter Lorenz. Fritz Teufel, another member of the same Baader-Meinhof offshoot and also imprisoned in West Germany, was convicted of robbery, firearms offenses and belonging to a criminal organization. Another name on the list was Andreas Baader, of the Red Army Faction, convicted of the arson bombing of a Frankfurt department store. Ulrike Meinhof, Baader’s comrade in the RAF, was another whose release was demanded. She was charged with numerous murders and the formation of a criminal organization. Among the prisoners held in Israel was Archbishop Hilarion Capucci, charged with smuggling arms to Palestinian terrorists. (Four Kalashnikov rifles, two pistols, 220 pounds of dynamite and several detonators were found in his car in Jerusalem, as The New York Times noted in his 2017 obituary.) Israel also was holding Fatima Barnawi, who was serving a life sentence for planting a bomb in 1967. The prisoner held in Switzerland was Petra Krause, a German-Italian awaiting trial for explosives offenses. The five held in Kenya were imprisoned after an Israeli warning that the PFLP was about to attack an El Al flight in the Nairobi airport. (More details on the prisoners are here.) Is “political” the correct terminology for this activity?

As The Los Angeles Times correctly reported on the 10th anniversary of the hijacking (“10th Anniversary of Hostage Rescue,” Dan Fisher, July 3, 1986):

Two West German and two Palestinian gunmen took it over and ordered it to Uganda. Joined by three accomplices at Entebbe Airport and supported by the troops of then-President Idi Amin, the hijackers demanded freedom for 53 jailed terrorists and a $5-million ransom. (Emphasis added.)

In addition, the reference to the hijackers as “revolutionaries” — in reviewer Katie Walsh’s unfortunate words, “the nomenclature varies from ‘freedom fighter’ to ‘terrorist’ depending on which side you’re on” — is extremely problematic. Nowhere does Walsh note that the Palestinians were members of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, recognized by the United States government as a terror group, and the Germans were members of the notorious Baader-Meinhof group, responsible for a wave of terror attacks.

A prominent pull quote in Haaretz‘s print edition last week (“The slow death sentence of cancer patients in Gaza,” March 7, page six) states, in quotation marks:

“Gaza is controlled by the Israelis, the Egyptians and the Palestinian Authority, none of whom seem to care or take our condition seriously.”

Hang on a minute. Israel, Egypt and the Palestinian Authority control Gaza? What about Hamas, which has ruled since June 2007?

The quotation marks indicate these were the speaker’s direct words, and not a paraphrase. The purported speaker is Gaza cancer patient Hana (pseudonym), but the Haaretz editor who selected this pull quote did not accurately quote her. This is what Hana actually said, according to the article:

Cancer treatment is not available in Gaza and access to treatment outside of Gaza is controlled by the Israelis, Egyptians and the Palestinian Authority, none of whom seem to care, take our condition seriously or deal with us in urgency.

Hana’s statement — that access to the outside is controlled by Israel, Egypt and the PA — is more factually accurate than the erroneously rendered pull quote which ignores that it is Hamas which has primary control of the Gaza Strip.

Beyond the erroneous pull quote which overlooks Hamas’ control of the territory, the article itself also gives Hamas a pass. Writer Dr. Manal Massalha, who sets out to cover the difficult circumstances which Gaza cancer patients face, ignores the difficulty that Hamas creates for the highly vulnerable cancer patients: reportedly exploiting them, coercing them to smuggle funds or instructions to terrorists when they enter Israel for treatment.

Twice before, Haaretz‘s English edition had ignored Hamas’ exploitation of cancer patients, and only added the information (which had originally appeared in the paper’s Hebrew edition), after CAMERA objected.

The Los Angeles Times has failed to correct an article last week which misidentified the Western Wall as Judaism’s holiest site. The March 4 story by Noga Tarnopolsky (“Netanyahu begins visit to U.S., putting aside personal and political troubles at home“) claims:

This encounter with a usually friendly arm of American Jewish leadership comes as Netanyahu’s relations with some American Jews are at a nadir, following his abandonment of a 2016 deal that would have allowed the liberal streams of Judaism that represent the majority of American Jews an equal place to pray at the Western Wall, widely regarded as Jerusalem’s holiest site for Jews.

Jewish religious sources and authorities consider the Temple Mount Judaism’s holiest site.

While many media outlets have wrongly identified the Western Wall as Judaism’s holiest site (and subsequently corrected), that distinction belongs to the Temple Mount. The Temple Mount is the site of the first and second Jewish temples which housed the Holy of Holies (the inner sanctuary where the Ark of the Covenant was located). The Western Wall, a retaining wall of the Temple Mount compound, obtained its holy status due to its proximity to the Holy of Holies. It is the holiest site where Jewish prayer is permitted.

That many media outlets and even some Jews wrongly identify the Western Wall as Judaism’s holiest site doesn’t make it so, and The Los Angeles Times’ repetition of misinformation is a great disservice to readers. While the majority of Americans do not know what GOP stands for, The Los Angeles Times would hardly report that it is “widely regarded to stand for ‘Government of the People,'” and leave it at that, as if the false information is correct.

Media outlets which have previously corrected the identical Western Wall error include Haaretz, The New York Times (on multiple occasions), The Independent, BBC, National Geographic, Agence France Presse, The Washington Post, and The Los Angeles Times (2004 photo caption), among others.

March 4 Update: CAMERA Prompts Newsweek, AFP Corrections on Shelved Expropriation Bill

Earlier this month, Newsweek fired senior editors and reporters after they reported on accusations that Newsweek Media Group had purchased fraudulent web traffic to secure significant advertising at the International Business Times, a sister publication.

In the wake of massive legal troubles, along with the departure of editor in chief Bob Roe and executive editor Ken Li, misreporting about an Israeli bill which has yet to come to vote is barely a blip in Newsweek’s turmoil. But Newsweek’s real readers — as opposed to the fake bots — may actually care to know when Newsweek fails to deliver real news.

This brings us to Tom Porter’s Feb. 25 article (“Jerusalem Church Where Jesus is Said To Be Buried Closed After Tax Dispute With Israeli Government“), in which he falsely wrote that Christian leaders in Jerusalem issued a joint statement criticizing a “recent bill passed by the Israeli parliament that allowed the Israeli state to take over Christian buildings leased to private companies, and plans to begin imposing taxes on Christian church properties.”

First, the bill was not passed. In fact, Sunday, after church officials decided to close the holy site, the Israeli Knesset’s Constitution, Law and Justice Committee postponed a discussion of the bill.

Second, the bill would not allow “the Israeli state to take over Christian buildings leased to private companies.” It would enable Israel to expropriate church land sold to private developers since 2010. In other words, it would only apply to properties that no longer belong to the church. (See here for more information on the bill and the Jerusalem Municipality’s intention to start collecting tax on church-owned properties used for commercial purpose or other purposes excluding worship.)

CAMERA has contacted Newsweek to request corrections. Stay tuned for an update.

Feb. 20 Update: Huffington Post Arabic Removes Hamas Propaganda

Hamas has found an unlikely platform to amplify its propaganda. Huffington Post Arabic has copied and pasted a Hamas caption, word for word, including language completely at odds with journalistic norms (“Video and first pictures.. see the site of the Israeli F-16 plane’s crash and its debris after it was shot down by fire from inside Syria,” Feb. 10).

Thus, a caption which appears at Huffington Post Arabic, reproduced entirely from the Facebook page of Hamas’ Shehab News Agency, refers to Israel as “the occupation” and “the enemy,” and its territory as “occupied Palestine” (translation by CAMERA’s Arabic department):

The occupation’s media publishes scenes which it said are of the moment of shooting down the Iranian drone (according to the announcement of the enemy) that entered the skies of occupied Palestine early in the morning. (Emphasis added.)

At the time of the launch of Huffington Post Arabic, Ariana Huffington, president and editor-in-chief of Huffington Post Media Group, averred: “The Huffington Post’s DNA of a combination of original reporting plus a platform for voices in the region to express themselves in video, in text, in pictures is quite needed.” Apparently, in the view of Huffington Post Arabic editors, that need extends to providing a terror organization with a platform..

— Research and reporting by CAMERA Arabic

Flat screen television sets at Kerem Shalom crossing on their way to Gaza from Israel, 2012 (photo by Adam Levick)

In their Los Angeles Times article yesterday (“Neither Israel nor Hamas wants another war in Gaza. . . “), Noga Tarnopolsky and Rushdi Abu Alouf err: “Egypt’s border with Gaza is closed and Israel allows only trucks carrying food or other humanitarian necessities in and out.”

Israel allows commercial goods in and out of the Gaza Strip — not just humanitarian goods. In fact, according to the United Nations’ Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs Gaza Crossings’ Operation Status: Monthly Update (December 2017), in December, 10,327 truckloads of commercial goods entered the Gaza Strip from Israel. This compares to just 460 truckloads of what the United Nations terms humanitarian goods. In other words, the amount of commercial goods which entered the Gaza Strip was more than 22 times greater than the amount of humanitarian goods which entered that month. This ratio is pretty much consistent for all of 2017.

Since 2010, has allowed just about everything into Gaza without restrictions aside from weapons and goods that it considers dual-use items (ie military and civilian use).

Among the commercial items are appliances such as televisions and washing machines. As The Jerusalem Post reported Jan. 9, 2017 (“Shin Bet foils smuggling ring that sought to help Hamas in Gaza”):

According to the Shin Bet, the smuggled goods had been hidden inside of electronic goods, such as televisions, washing machines and refrigerators. During the investigation, the Shin Bet discovered that Massalma had assisted Abu Siriya in November in smuggling hundreds of cameras inside washing machines that had been imported from the West Bank to the Gaza Strip.

“The smuggling method that was discovered by the security forces underscores the efforts undertaken by Hamas, via its collaborators, in order to build up its strength and cynically exploit the commercial permits given by Israel for the benefit of the civilian population in the Gaza Strip,” the Shin Bet said.

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

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