Nov. 17 UPDATE:
Wall Street Journal Corrects
In response to repeated communication from CAMERA staff, The Wall Street Journal finally published the much needed correction on Nov. 14. See below for a detailed update.
Nov. 4, 2024 — "An anti-Israel billboard in Tehran’s Enghelab Square on Saturday depicted Iran’s missile attack on Israel earlier this month and the sentiment, 'If you want war, we are the master of war,'" states a photo caption appearing in the Wall Street Journal's site Oct. 26.
The photograph shows a giant billboard in the Iranian capital carrying text in Persian (in yellow) followed by Hebrew text (in white).
The Persian inscription states exactly what the caption says: "If you want war, we are the master of war."
But the Hebrew text conveys a much more shocking sentiment which Wall Street Journal's caption ignores: "Israel should be wiped off the face of the earth and that is just the beginning of the story."
(Another Tehran billboard suggests an ending of the story: the demise of the United States.)
Speculation about end of story not required. Iran spells it out in black and white out on huge billboard in Tehran: "Down with the USA." When media outlets cover up "Israel should be wiped off face of earth" text, they are also concealing barely veiled call to eliminate USA pic.twitter.com/fuRGUGMme2
— Tamar Sternthal (@TamarSternthal) October 30, 2024
The photograph originated with European Pressphoto Agency (EPA), which likewise published a partial and therefore grossly misleading caption erasing the Hebrew message calling for the complete destruction of Israel plus other unspecified atrocities. EPA's highly selective and therefore misleading caption states:
An Iranian woman walks near an anti-Israel billboard depicting Iran's recent missile attack on Israel and a sentence reading in Persian 'If you want war, we are the master of war', at the Enghelab square in Tehran, Iran, 26 October 2024. Israel Defense Forces (IDF) spokesman Daniel Hagari confirmed on 26 October that the Israeli Army, Tsahal, conducted precise strikes on military targets in Iran. According to the Iran Air Defense Force, the Israeli attack was successfully countered by the country's integrated air defense system. EPA-EFE/ABEDIN TAHERKENAREH
Though EPA was the source of the caption which whitewashed the billboard's genocidal message, WSJ is fortunate to have its own staffers in Israel who presumably speak Hebrew and who could have confirmed the translation that CAMERA provided editors days ago. Two of those Israel-based reporters — Dov Lieber and Carrie Keller-Lynn — contributed to the article accompanying the photograph and the problematic caption ("How Israel Pulled Off Its Largest Ever Strike On Iran").
Nov. 17 Update: Wall Street Journal Corrects
In response to repeated communication from CAMERA staff, on Nov. 14 The Wall Street Journal finally amended the caption to include the Hebrew message calling for the elimination of Israel. The corrected caption now states:
A billboard in Tehran on Saturday depicted Iran’s missile attack on Israel earlier this month and said, ‘If you want war, we are masters of war. Israel must be removed from the face of the earth. And that’s just the beginning of the story.’
In addition, a correction commendably appended to the bottom of the article alerts readers to the change, stating:
A caption accompanying a photo in an earlier version of this article didn’t include the translation of the Hebrew inscription on a billboard in Tehran. After the Persian inscription, “If you want war, we are masters of war,” the billboard said in Hebrew, “Israel must be removed from the face of the earth. And that’s just the beginning of the story.” (Corrected on Nov. 14)