CAMERA’s Israel office prompted a significant correction June 17 at United Press International after the wire service grossly inflated the United Nations’ figure for the number of West Bank Palestinians killed in incidents involving settlers. Moreover, CAMERA’s communication with McClatchy prompted correction of the same error at dozens of its news outlets across the United States which had published the flawed UPI article.
Thus, in his article (“Israel to consider proposals to ‘strengthen’ Jewish settlements in West Bank“), UPI’s Darryl Coote had erred about deadly violence carried out by Israeli settlers:
Tensions between Palestinians and settlers in the occupied West Bank have skyrocketed amid Israel’s war against Iran-backed Hamas in Gaza.
According to a recent update from the United Nations relief agency for Palestinian refugees, the extremist violence has resulted in the deaths of 508 Palestinians, including 124 children.
The United States has repeatedly warned about the escalating violence and has imposed sanctions against those accused of being responsible.
But the UNRWA report in question, along with the primary source from a separate U.N. agency, do not at all claim, per the article’s clear suggestion, that settler violence resulted in the deaths of 508 Palestinians. The relevant UNRWA report (“Situation Report 113“) states:
According to OCHA, between 7 October 2023-3 June 2024, 508 Palestinians, including 124 children, were killed in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem.
The UNRWA report does not attribute the reported 508 deaths to settler violence. Neither does the relevant UN OCHA (Office for Coordination for Humanitarian Affairs) report (“Humanitarian Situation Update #175“). To the contrary, states:
Between 7 October 2023 and 3 June 2024, 508 Palestinians, including 124 children, were killed in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem; these include 491 killed by Israeli forces, ten by Israeli settlers, and seven where it remains unknown whether the perpetrators were Israeli soldiers or settlers.
Thus, according to the United Nations, 10 – not 508 – Palestinians were killed in incidents involving settlers.
Here we go again. @UPI grossly inflates @UN data for West Bank Palestinians reportedly killed in incidents involving settlers. Here @DarrylCoote indicates that according to UNRWA, 508 Palestinians were killed in settler violence (since Oct. 7, it seems) (1/6) https://t.co/KbMn0Q1h2a pic.twitter.com/6MzFGp40Nh
— Tamar Sternthal (@TamarSternthal) June 17, 2024
Moreover, according to the U.N.’s own definition (see OCHA’s “Data on Casualties“), the category for Palestinians killed by Israeli settlers “includes Palestinians killed or injured during attacks or alleged attacks they perpetrated against Israeli settlers.”
In response to communication from CAMERA, Coote forthrightly corrected his article, which now reports:
According to a recent update from the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, 508 Palestinians, including 124 children, have been killed in the West Bank since the war began. The vast majority were killed by Israeli soldiers. Ten were killed by Israeli settlers with another seven being unconfirmed.
In addition, UPI commendably appended the following correction to the bottom of the article alerting readers to the change:
Correction: Figures on Palestinian deaths in the West Bank has been clarified to show that the majority were killed by Israeli soldiers.
McClatchy sites did not automatically update with a correction, but readily did so after communication from CAMERA. The correction therefore now appears at Miami Herald, The Fresno Bee, Tacoma News Tribune, Belleville News Democrat, Bradenton Herald, Centre Daily Times, Lexington Herald Leader, Rock Hill Herald, Merced Sun-Star, Macon Telegraph, Idaho Statesman, San Luis Obispo Tribune, Bellingham Herald, Modesto Bee, Sacramento Bee, Olympian, Raleigh News and Observer, Wichita Eagle, Tri-City Herald, Biloxi Sun Herald, Durham Herald Sun, Charlotte Observer, Columbus Ledger-Enquirer, Kansas City Star, and Hilton Head Island Packet.
Separately, Yahoo News has also corrected.
This is the second time this year in which UPI grossly inflated U.N. data on Palestinians killed in settler violence. In April, after grossly overreporting the figure from Jan. 1, 2023 until Oct. 7, 2023 as “nearly 2oo” — the U.N.’s number was seven — Adam Schrader’s bad faith “correction” introduced a new falsehood, fabricating that the United Nations found that at least seven Palestinians were “murdered” by Israeli settlers.
The United Nations made no assertion about murders, and qualified, without providing any breakdown, that the incidents include “Palestinians killed or injured during attacks or alleged attacks they perpetrated against Israeli settlers.”