In the 11 and a half years since Israeli teens Naftali Frankel, Gil-Ad Shaar, Eyal Yifrach were kidnapped and brutally murdered — traumatic events seared into the collective Israeli national memory which contributed to the 2014 conflict with Gaza — Haaretz‘s English edition three times corrected after misreporting their identity.
In 2019, CAMERA prompted correction after the paper misidentified the three murdered civilians as soldiers.
In 2021, CAMERA’s Israel office again prompted correction after Haaretz‘s English edition wrongly identified the three teens as “young men.”
And, most recently, CAMERA’s staff in Jerusalem last week prompted correction at Haaretz after the English edition misidentified the three as settlers. The Sept. 21 article, “Police Arrest Former Arab Israeli Lawmaker Haneen Zoabi on Suspicion of Incitement to Terrorism” (online, and page 3 of the Sept. 22 print edition) erred that former MK Zoabi’s “resignation from the Knesset in 2019 came after having been repeatedly suspended for statements and actions opposed by the Knesset ethics committee, including calling Israeli soldiers murderers and saying that the Palestinians who abducted three Israeli settler teens in 2014 were not terrorists.” [Emphasis added.]
Of the three teens — Eyal Yifrach, Naftali Fraenkel and Gil-Ad Shaar — one lived across the Green Line. As Haaretz has previously correctly reported:
The discovery of the bodies of Eyal Yifrah, 19, from Elad, Gilad Shaar, 16, from Talmon and Naftali Fraenkel, 16, from Nof Ayalon was announced shortly after 8 P.M.
While Talmon sits over the Green Line, Nof Ayalon and Elad are both on internationally-recognized Israeli territory, and are not settlements.
Notably, the Hebrew version of the same article does not mention the three teens at all.
In addition, the three teens were not only kidnapped; they were also murdered.
A screenshot of Haaretz’s headline which wrongly referred to Zoabi’s “arrest,” before it was corrected
Furthermore, in a completely unrelated error, the article (both in English and Hebrew) wrongly reported that former MK Haneen Zoabi had been arrested. Police spokesman Dean Elsdunne confirmed to CAMERA that she was “detained for questioning and released – not arrested.” Indeed, the police announcement notes that Zoabi was detained for questioning, without mentioning an arrest.
Haaretz‘s English edition commendably amended the digital article to correct all three points. Instead of “Police Arrest,” the corrected headline now accurately reports: “Police Detain.” Likewise, the article’s opening was changed from “Police arrested . . . ” to “Police detained.” As of this writing, Haaretz‘s Hebrew edition has yet to correct this point, and CAMERA’s Hebrew department has reached out for correction there as well.
Regarding the murdered teens, the article no longer misidentifies them as settlers and also now states they were murdered. The amended text refers to Zoabi having been suspended from the Knesset following her remarks “that the Palestinians who abducted and murdered three Israeli teens in 2014 were not terrorists.”
Moreover, a note commendably appended to the bottom of the article clearly informs readers of the changes made. It states:
Correction: This article has been amended to reflect the fact that Zoabi was detained, not arrested, by the police, and that only one of the three abducted and murdered Israeli teens had lived in a settlement.
For additional instances in which Haaretz‘s English edition introduced misinformation which had not appeared in the Hebrew version of the same article, see “Haaretz, Lost in Translation.”
Separately, CAMERA also prompted corrections of two Times of Israel items which erroneously reported that Zoabi was arrested. One erred in a headline (“Former Balad MK Hanin Zoabi arrested for alleged terrorist incitement“) and reiterates the misinformation in the first sentence: “Former lawmaker Hanin Zoabi was arrested at her home in Nazareth . . . “
Police have arrested former Knesset member Hanin Zoabi on suspicion of membership in a terror group and incitement to terror, according to the Ynet news site. . . .Police confirmed arresting a woman meeting the 59-year-old Zoabi’s description. . .