Following Contact from CAMERA, The Washington Post Changes Inaccurate Description of Israel as “Jewish-only State”

After contact from CAMERA, The Washington Post changed an inaccurate description of U.S. Rep. Rashid Tlaib’s views.

The Post’s March 18, 2019 report, “The meeting was supposed to ease tensions between Muslim and Jewish Democrats. It ended with tears” incorrectly claimed that “Rep. Rashida Tlaib (Mich.), a Palestinian American who does not support the existence of a Jewish-only state…” As Seth Frantzman, an Opinion Editor for The Jerusalem Post, has noted, this can be read as saying that “if you disagree with Rep. [Ilhan] Omar’s characterization of Israel, then one does support a ‘Jewish-only’ state.” This, he observes, is a “tremendous falsehood and bizarre way to characterize Rep. Omar’s views.”

As CAMERA told Post staff, this characterization also implies that the words “Jewish state” mean a “Jewish-ONLY” state. CAMERA pointed out that plenty of minorities, religious and otherwise, reside in Israel—and have since its founding. And both Christians and Muslims enjoy greater rights and higher standards of living than in many places throughout the region.

Following contact from CAMERA, The Post quickly changed the phrasing to read “Rep. Rashida Tlaib (Mich.), a Palestinian American who is critical of the Israeli government’s treatment of the Palestinians.” The newspaper also appended a correction saying:

“An earlier version of this story did not make Rep. Rashida Tlaib’s position on Israel clear. The story has been updated to explain that she is critical of the Israeli government’s treatment of the Palestinians.”

While this is an improvement over “Jewish-only state,” it doesn’t fully depict Tlaib’s views. As CAMERA told The Post, the freshmen Congresswoman supports the boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) movement, which is linked to terror groups and seeks the end of the Jewish nation of Israel. Further, as researcher Ashley Rae Goldenberg has documented, Tlaib has associated with supporters of Hezbollah and has followed an antisemitic Instagram account that compares Israel to the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) and depicts Jews as Nazis.

CAMERA supplied Washington Post staff, including its national politics reporters and editor, with the above information and was told that they will “keep it in mind” for future coverage.

 

Comments are closed.