Haaretz Prints Correction on BDS Activists That Weren’t

As noted earlier this week on CAMERA’s Snapshots blog, Haaretz‘s print edition (Friday, Oct. 13) published a photo caption which incorrectly identified activists demonstrating against the anti-Israel BDS (boycott, divest, sanctions) campaign as BDS activists. The erroneous caption read: “Israel supporters separated by a police barrier from BDS activists at a New York parade.”
 

 
The Associated Press’ original caption correctly identified the activists, stating:

Marchers cheer as they pass along a barricade separating them from anti-Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement protestors during the Celebrate Israel Parade, Sunday, June 1, 2014, in New York. Among the 35,000 marchers were New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio, Israeli diplomats and members of the Knesset, Israel’s parliament. (Emphasis added.)

Haaretz‘s caption error — misrepresenting anti-BDS activists as BDS activists — ironically accompanied a column in which David Rosenberg argues that the BDS campaign is an “imaginary demon.” As the subheadline puts it: “Israel isn’t under any threat from a boycott movement, but fighting a phony BDS war is too temping for many to pass up. Even, [sic] the U.S. congress has been enlisted in the fight.”
 
In response to communication from CAMERA’s Israel office, Haaretz published the following correction on page two of yesterday’s print edition:

The caption accompanying an Associated Press photograph of a pro-Israel rally in New York (“Exorcising an imaginary BDS demon,” by David Rosenberg, October 13) incorrectly identified some of the participants as pro-BDS activists.

CAMERA commends Haaretz on the timely and forthright correction.
 

 
For additional Haaretz corrections prompted by CAMERA and Presspectiva, CAMERA’s Hebrew site, see here.

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