AP Corrects After Calling Gaza ‘World’s Largest Muslim Nation’

May 27 UPDATE:

Daily Herald, US News & World Report Correct

In response to communication from CAMERA, both The Daily Herald and US News & World Report have commendably corrected. See below for a detailed update.

CAMERA's Israel office yesterday prompted correction of more than half a dozen Associated Press photo captions which misidentified the Gaza Strip as the "world's largest Muslim nation." With a population of less than two million, almost all Muslims, the Gaza Strip territory does not come anywhere close to being the world's largest Muslim population and is home to just a tiny fraction of a percent of the world's 1.7 billion Muslims. Examples of the erroneous captions follow:

 

Muslims wearing face masks attend the Eid al-Fitr prayers outside a mosque in Gaza City, Sunday, May 24, 2020. Millions of people in the world's largest Muslim nation are marking a muted and gloomy religious festival of Eid al-Fitr, the end of the fasting month of Ramadan_a usually joyous three-day celebration that has been significantly toned down as coronavirus cases soar. (AP Photo/Khalil Hamra)

 

Muslims wearing face masks attend the Eid al-Fitr prayers outside a mosque in Gaza City, Sunday, May 24, 2020. Millions of people in the world's largest Muslim nation are marking a muted and gloomy religious festival of Eid al-Fitr, the end of the fasting month of Ramadan_a usually joyous three-day celebration that has been significantly toned down as coronavirus cases soar. (AP Photo/Khalil Hamra)

There are some 2 million people in the Gaza Strip, all but approximately 1000 of them Muslims. According to Pew Research, there are 1.7 billion Muslims in the world, with the largest population in Indonesia, with close to 220 million Muslims. Pew reports that there are 195 million in India, 184 million in Pakistan, and 144 million in Bangladesh. Even if West Bank and Jerusalem Muslims are included together with the Gaza Strip, there are approximately five million Palestinian Muslims in these three locations combined, which amounts to some 29 million Muslims less than Iraq's population, which is the 10th largest Muslim population in the world. Gaza's Muslim population constitutes approximately a tenth of a percent of the global Muslim population.
In response to communication from CAMERA, AP quickly and commendably corrected the captions in the news agency's photo archive. The amended captions now refers to "[m]illions of Muslims worldwide" marking Eid al-Fitr, as opposed to millions of Muslims in the "world's largest nation," misidentified as the Gaza Strip. The new captions, which carry a prominent "Correction" heading, read, for example:
CORRECTS TO CLARIFY MILLIONS OF PEOPLE IN MUSLIM NATIONS NOT GAZA - Muslims wearing face masks attend the Eid al-Fitr prayers outside a mosque in Gaza City, Sunday, May 24, 2020. Millions of Muslims worldwide are marking a muted and gloomy religious festival of Eid al-Fitr, the end of the fasting month of Ramadan -- a usually joyous three-day celebration that has been significantly toned down as coronavirus cases soar. (AP Photo/Khalil Hamra)
Unfortunately, despite the correction, the photo agency's error still appears on some news sites, such as US News & World Report, The Daily Herald (Chicago), and The Charlotte Observer, among others. CAMERA is reaching out to these media outlets to alert them to AP's correction and to urge them to likewise correct, and will update this post as more corrections appear.
The absurdly inaccurate assertion that the Gaza Strip is the "world's largest Muslim nation" is no more credible than the AP's entirely baseless claim last week that Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas "has always been opposed to violence." The news agency has taken no steps to set the record straight on the latter fabrication.

May 27 Update: Daily Herald, US News & World Report Correct

In response to communication from CAMERA, both The Daily Herald and US News & World Report corrected the AP caption on their site, removing the erroneous reference to the Gaza Strip as the "world's largest Muslim nation." The Daily Herald's shortened caption now states: "Muslims wearing face masks attend the Eid al-Fitr prayers outside a mosque in Gaza City, Sunday, May 24, 2020." The corrected caption at US News & World Report states:

Muslims wearing face masks attend the Eid al-Fitr prayers outside a mosque in Gaza on May 24, 2020. Millions of Muslims worldwide are marking Eid al-Fitr, the end of the fasting month of Ramadan, this year with a three-day celebration that has been significantly toned down as coronavirus cases soar.

In addition, The Charlotte Observer is in communication with the AP in order to try to get the item corrected, as the AP content is not accessible to Observer editors.

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