CAMERA Prompts i24 Correction on Controversial Posters

September 6, 2016
CAMERA’s Israel office prompts correction of an i24 article which inaccurately described funding for a controversial post campaign on American campuses. The Aug. 21 article had originally reported (“Billionaire launches pro-Israel campus task force“):

The [Maccabee] task force funded a campaign called “Stop the Jew Hatred on Campus” this year, which was launched by the David Horowitz Freedom Center in Los Angeles and included hanging up posters on UC campuses listing “Jew haters” at the school — a move condemned by some Jewish student groups.

As reported by the JTA, the Maccabee Task Force denied that it funded the controversial poster campaign launched by the David Horowitz Freedom Center, and slammed The Los Angeles Times article which alleged otherwise as “completely false.” In conversations with CAMERA, Maccabee Task Force executive director David Brog and David Horowitz both confirmed that the Task Force did not fund the poster campaign.
 
In addition, on Aug. 24 The Guardian amended its report which had originally claimed that the Task Force funded the poster campaign. The revised article now states:

David Brog, executive director of the Maccabee Task Force, said in a statement to the Guardian that the group had approved a “modest grant” to the Horowitz Freedom Center “to focus on the true nature of pro-BDS organizations, but we did not ask for or approve the poster campaign that targeted student activists, and were not aware that our money had been used to support it. It should not have been.

“The Maccabee Task Force does not believe that focusing on student activists who conduct themselves civilly is an appropriate or effective way to combat the BDS movement on campus,” Brog added.

A spokesman declined to disclose the size of the grant but said the Maccabee Task Force plans to expand to 20 additional college campuses this fall.

On Wednesday, two days after publication of this article, the Maccabee spokesman said that the Horowitz center has since confirmed that it did not use any funding from the Adelson group for its poster campaign, contradicting its earlier statement acknowledging that its money had gone toward the effort.

In addition, The Guardian commendably appended this clarification to the end of its article:
This article was amended on 24 August to clarify a new statement from the Maccabee group which now claims that the Horowitz center did not use any of the Maccabee funding for its campus posters.

Following communication from CAMERA staff, i24 editors likewise amended their report. The amended text states:

The Maccabee Task Force denied any connection to the controversial posters, telling theGuardianthat while it had approved a “modest grant” to the Horowitz Freedom Center “to focus on the true nature of pro-BDS organizations” its funding was not used in support of this particular campaign.

“The Maccabee Task Force does not believe that focusing on student activists who conduct themselves civilly is an appropriate or effective way to combat the BDS movement on campus,” Maccabee Task Force executive director David Brog said. …

In addition, editors commendably appended the following note to the end of the article:

Editor’s note: A previous version of this article stated that the Macabee Task Force provided funding for the “Stop the Jew Hatred on Campus” poster campaign. This article was amended on August 31 following a statement from the Macabee group clarifying that while it had approved a “modest grant” to the Horowitz Freedom Center, its funds were not used in support of the poster campaign.

For additional i24 corrections prompted by CAMERA, please see here.

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