Following communication from CAMERA’s Israel office, the Associated Press today corrected a headline which incorrectly stated that Israel shuttered the Kerem Shalom cargo crossing, despite the fact that crossing is still open for food and medication. About Israel’s decision today to suspend the transfer of fuel and gas to the Gaza Strip until Sunday, following Hamas’ ongoing air-borne arson attacks, the original headline had erred: “Israel shuts down cargo crossing into Gaza to punish Hamas.”
The article’s first sentence also repeated the erroneous claim that Israel closed the crossing, stating: “Israel shut down its only cargo crossing with the Gaza Strip on Tuesday in response to continued Hamas hostilities, even after it agreed to a cease-fire ending 24 hours of intense fighting.”
But as the next paragraph of the article explained, the crossing remains open for food and medicine: “Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman said Israel will cease transferring gas and fuel through the Kerem Shalom crossing until next Sunday but will allow food and essential medication to cross.” (Israel suspended the shipment of commercial cargo last week in light of the persistent arson attacks which have destroyed some 35,000 acres of land.)
After CAMERA contacted AP, editors changed the headline to accurately state: “Israel places new limitations on cargo crossing into Israel.” Likewise, the amended first sentence also no longer contains the inaccuracy about Israel shutting down the crossing. The updated story states: “Israel placed new restrictions on its only cargo crossing with the Gaza Strip on Tuesday in response to continued Hamas hostilities, even after it agreed to a cease-fire ending 24 hours of intense fighting.“
CAMERA’s timely action vis-à-vis today’s AP article underscores the value of the organization’s work monitoring and responding to wire stories in the same news cycle as they appear.
With this preemptive work, CAMERA improves coverage in wire service stories before they appear in media outlets around world. News sites which had published the erroneous AP headline, such as the Tampa Bay Times and The Wichita Eagle, automatically updated with the corrected AP story once it became available.
July 22 Update: CAMERA Prompts AP Captions Corrections
On July 19 CAMERA’s Israel office prompted correction of July 17 AP captions which erroneously stated that “Israel shut down the cargo crossing of Kerem Shalom with the Gaza Strip.” In response to communication from CAMERA, AP commendably corrected several captions which carried this inaccurate information.
CORRECTS THAT CARGO CROSSING FACES RESTRICTIONS NOT CLOSURE — A trucks is parked on the Palestinian side out of the Israeli Kerem Shalom cargo crossing in Rafah, southern Gaza Strip, Tuesday, July 17, 2018.Israel placed new restrictions on its only cargo crossing with the Gaza Strip on Tuesday in response to continued Hamas hostilities, even after it agreed to a cease-fire ending 24 hours of intense fighting. Israel ceased transferring gas and fuel through the Kerem Shalom crossing until Sunday but will allow food and essential medication to cross. Commercial cargo was suspended last week. (AP Photo/Adel Hana)