CAMERA prompted a correction yesterday on a letter by Marc Springer of Chantilly, Va., who falsely wrote in the Los Angeles Times that the majority of Israeli fatalities in the last four years have been soldiers, not civilians. This correction is an important reminder that letters to the editor, just like news articles, must be factually correct, and that media outlets have an obligation to correct erroneous information in letters and op-eds. The correction follows:
Error (Los Angeles Times, letter by Marc Springer of Chantilly, Va., 11/29/04): The numbers say it all, in more than four years of violence, some 900 Israelis have been killed, the majority soldiers, and more than 3,500 Palestinians, the majority civilians, cut down to support a brutal occupation.
Correction (12/4/04): Mideast conflict – A letter Nov. 29 said soldiers were the majority of the 900 Israelis killed in the Palestinian-Israeli conflict since 2000. The majority have been civilians.
It is also worth noting that figures from the Institute for Counter-Terrorism contradict Springer’s allegation concerning the breakdown of Palestinian fatalities. The latest figures at that organization’s site are 2,806 Palestinian fatalities in the last four years, of which 1,821 – or 65 percent – were combatants, not civilians.