Time and again, Ha’aretz has demonstrated that its “tailor-made” English content is rife with erroneous information, inserted especially for the benefit of English readers. Today, Ha’aretz‘s English print edition upgrades “Palestine” to a full-fledged member of the United Nations. The page-one article (see scan below), entitled “IDF to relocated Iron Dome battery for Obama photo-op,” states:
The UN recognized the Church of the Nativity as a Palestinian World Heritage Site several months after Palestine became a full-fledge member of the organization.
That Palestine is a full-fledged member of the U.N. would come as news to the U.N. itself. The U.N.’s Web site has a handy list of the 193 “Member States of the United Nations,” and Palestine does not appear there. Palestine does appear, however, on the U.N.’s short list of “Non-member States.” A screen capture of that list, which is composed just of the Holy See and the State of Palestine, appears below:
That Palestine is a full-fledged member of the United Nations will also come as news to Barak Ravid, the Ha’aretz reporter who wrote the article — originally in Hebrew — where the Palestinian status at the United Nations is correctly described. Ravid reported accurately in Hebrew (CAMERA’s translation):
In June 2012, the United Nations educational and cultural organization, UNESCO, recognized the Church of the Nativity as a Palestinian World Heritage Site. The decision was made a few months after Palestine became a member of the organization.
Thus, Barak Ravid correctly reports in Hebrew that Palestine became a member of UNESCO, not the U.N. It is the Ha’aretz translators tasked with translating Ravid’s report who falsely upgrade Palestine to a “full-fledged member” of the United Nations itself. Thus, with the latest installment of “Ha’aretz, Lost in Translation,” it appears that the Ha’aretz English edition owes its readers yet another correction “tailor-made” for its English readers.
As of publishing time, the online version of the English article does not err in reporting that Palestine is a full-fledged member of the United Nations. Rather, it accurately reports that Palestine was accepted as a full-fledged member of UNESCO:
UNESCO recognized the Church of the Nativityas a Palestinian World Heritage Site in June 2012, several months after Palestine became a full-fledged member of the organization.