CAMERA’s Israel office has prompted correction of a New York Times article which last week erroneously reported that Israel had blocked the installation of a high-tech cargo scanner to be used for exports from the Gaza Strip. In her original story (“Israel to Allow Building Materials into Gaza,” Dec. 10), Times bureau chief Jodi Rudoren had reported:
CAMERA staff contacted The Times, pointing out that according to Ha’aretz coverage of the issue (see for instance here), Israel did not block the installation of the scanner located in Kerem Shalom. Rather Israel refused to let the machine be used to scan Gaza exports to the West Bank, and the Dutch had hoped it would be used for this purpose. As a result, the Dutch were angry and backed out of the inaugural gala schedule for the scanner last Sunday, Dec. 8.
Moreover, as we noted in our Snapshots blog last week, Guy Inbar, the spokesman of COGAT (Israel’s Coordination of Government Activities in the Territories) told CAMERA that the scanner has been installed for the last three weeks and that for the last week or two it has been used for strawberries and flowers exports to Europe.
In response to CAMERA’s communication, The Times commendably deleted the erroneous claim from the online article and appended the following correction to the bottom of the story:
A correction in the print edition is expected to follow. CAMERA commends The Times for correction of the error.
For additional New York Times corrections elicited by CAMERA, please see here.
Dec. 22 Update:
On Dec. 19, The Times ran the following correction in the print edition:
An article on Dec. 10 about Israel’s decision to restart the transfer of construction materials to the Gaza Strip referred incorrectly to a high-tech cargo scanner donated by the Dutch. Israel has allowed the scanner to be used on agricultural exports to Europe but not, as the Dutch intended, to increase the transfer of goods from Gaza to the West Bank and Israel. Israel did not in fact block the installation of the scanner.