Malakhi Moshe Rosenfeld Is Latest Victim of Haaretz Translators

In three faulty translations this week, the Haaretz English edition misstated Palestinian and Israeli fatalities. In the first mistranslation, Haaretz‘s English edition inflated the number of Palestinian casualties. In today’s two-part mistranslation, the second in one week, the English edition ignores two Israeli casualties (one killed, one severely wounded) in two separate terror attacks.
 
In English, the Slain Rosenfeld Is Just Wounded
 
Malakhi Moshe Rosenfeld was one of four Israelis wounded June 29 in a drive-by shooting attack near Shvut Rachel in the West Bank. As reported by Haaretz at the time, his wounds were fatal, and he died the very next day.
 
 
About his death, last month’s article stated:

An Israeli man died Tuesday from critical wounds sustained a day earlier in a drive-by shooting attack near the West Bank settlement of Shvut Rachel.

Malakhi Moshe Rosenfeld, 26, and three others were wounded in the attack; the others victims sustained moderate injuries. Rosenfeld was shot in the torso, and was taken in for surgery overnight at the Shaare Zedek Medical Center, where he later succumbed to his wounds.

But an article today in Haaretz‘s English edition, both in print and online, refers to the June 29 drive-by shooting, but reports only to four wounded, ignoring the fact that Rosenfeld was killed (“Israeli soldier wounded in West Bank stabbing attack“). The article, as it originally appeared, stated:
 
 
The original Hebrew article, however, correctly reported (CAMERA’s translation):
Approximately three weeks ago, there was a drive-by shooting on the Eilon road in the direction of the Shvut Rachel settlement. Malakhi Moshe Rosenfeld, 26, from the Kochav Hashachar settlement, was seriously injured and died the next day. Three additional people were moderately injured.
 
CAMERA Prompts Haaretz Correction
 
In response to communication from CAMERA’s Israel office earlier today, Haaretz editors quickly corrected the article. The online article now correctly states: “Two weeks ago, one person was killed and three were wounded in a drive-by shooting attack near the West Bank settlement of Shvut Rachel.” In addition, the following note alerting readers to the correction was commendably appended to the bottom of the article:
 
 
English Translators Drop Second Israeli Casualty
 
But Rosenfeld is not the only Israeli victim of the ongoing “Haaretz, Lost in Translation” phenomenon in this particular article. While the Hebrew edition speaks of two Palestinian stabbing attacks which claimed a victim each in Jerusalem last month, the English edition ignores one of the attacks and its victim, a female soldier who was severely injured.
 
The excerpt from the Hebrew edition about the two Palestinian attacks, resulting in two Israeli victims, follows (CAMERA’s translation):
A month ago, two stabbing attacks took place: A border policeman was critically wounded in a stabbing attack by Damascus Gate in the Old City of Jerusalem. The assailant was shot and critically wounded. The same day a Palestinian woman stabbed a female soldier on Hebron Road, close to Bethlehem, and was gravely injured. According to the police the terrorist who stabbed the border policeman followed him as he was on his way from the base to his guard duty in the Damascus Gate area. He tackled from behind and stabbed him in his neck. The policeman managed to respond, shooting the terrorist and seriously injuring him.
 
In contrast, the English edition, both in print and even online, where space is not a consideration,  ignores the attack on the female soldier.
 
The English edition mentions only one stabbing attack in Jerusalem last month:
 
CAMERA has urged Haaretz editors to add information in English about the attack on the female soldiers. As of this writing, they have not done so.
 
Who Are Haaretz Translators?
 
Who are these Haaretz translators who in a few short days managed to both inflate the number of Palestinian casualties and underreport Israeli casualties? This week’s manipulation of casualties on both sides of the conflict is in line with over two dozens previous examples of “Haaretz, Lost in Translation,” in which translators insert false information about Israel and downplay or omit Palestinian violence and other wrongdoing.
 
While Haaretz editors have been mostly diligent about correcting the problematic translations after the fact, the question remains: what steps will Haaretz take to eliminate or at least minimize mistranslations which consistently tilt in one direction? Will the specific translators responsible for this week’s casualty miscoverage be held accountable? Will Haaretz begin to publish the names of the translators for each of its reports, as it now includes the names of reporters (whose work is frequently butchered by the translators)? Or, at the very least, will it publish a list of all its translators on the Haaretz web site, as it does now for editors and writers?
 
If these questions are not addressed, then the next inevitable question
is: which Israeli victim of Palestinian terror will be the next casualty of Haaretz translators?
 

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