Tamar Sternthal

April 11, 2005

The Temple Mount’s Jewish History: More Than a Matter of Faith

The Temple Mount is the site of the first and second Jewish Temples, destroyed in 586 BCE and 70 CE, respectively–a historic fact accepted even by Muslim authorities. Nevertheless, that fact has not stopped some journalists from reporting on the Temple Mount's significance in Jewish history cautiously, as if its status is a matter of Jewish faith, or "belief," and not archeologic evidence.
April 4, 2005

Ha’aretz Inaccurately Reports on Garbage Dump

David Ratner's prominent article today ("Israel to dump 10,000 tons of garbage a month in the West Bank") is rife with serious factual errors, primarily false allegations against Israel. For instance, he falsely claims that Palestinians will not be permitted to make use of the new Kedumim waste site, while a contract requires the administrators to service both Israelis and Palestinians.
March 21, 2005

BBC and Ha’aretz Journalist Whitewash Palestinian Incitement

Akiva Eldar, the Ha'aretz journalist who recently transformed Palestinian propagandist Hanan Ashrawi into the "Enemy of Incitement," weighs in again on Palestinian incitement. In a BBC interview March 15, he repeats the old canard that the offending Palestinian texts are outdated Jordanian and Egyptian books, and concludes that anyway, "the focus on incitement is very wrong and it's in a way irrelevant as long as we are fighting."
March 13, 2005

Ha’aretz Gives Hanan Ashrawi a Makeover

In a news feature item in the Thursday edition of Ha'aretz, Akiva Eldar discusses Palestinian spokeswoman Hanan Ashrawi, her organization MIFTAH, and incitement. Interestingly, his only mention of the word "propaganda" relates to "Israeli propaganda" originating from the Israeli Foreign Ministry, and the Ha'aretz writer has not a word to say about incitement originating from Ashrawi and MIFTAH themselves.
March 3, 2005

Los Angeles Times Editors Fail to Distinguish Fact from Interpretation

Although opinion and editorial writers have more leeway than news correspondents, the Statement of Principles of the American Society of Newspaper Editors makes clear that they are not off the hook when it comes to the facts. Thus, while editorial writers are free to interpret the meaning of events, they are not supposed to misreport what has actually transpired. The Los Angeles Times did just that in a Feb. 22 editorial.
February 28, 2005

Ha’aretz Keeps ‘Quiet’

In a Feb. 10 Op-Ed about the current status of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Ha'aretz writer Sefi Rachlevsky alleged that there had been "four years in which the Palestinians preserved nearly absolute quiet." Ha'aretz has ignored CAMERA's request for substantiation of this claim.
February 6, 2005

Ha’aretz Refuses to Correct Prominent Front Page Error

On Jan. 26, the influential Israeli daily Ha'aretz, considered a trusted source by Western correspondents, ran a five-column color Reuters photograph above the fold on the front page. The caption, however, was wrong and a Ha'aretz editor refuses to correct though he doesn't dispute the facts.
February 6, 2005

Time’s Tony Karon Rewrites U.N. Resolution 242

Time.com senior editor Tony Karon wrongly suggests that U.N. Resolution 242 calls on Israel to withdraw to its 1967 boundaries. He cites the view of the Arab world and the "international community" to make his case, but ignores the explicit words of the resolution's drafters.
January 31, 2005

Ha’aretz Prints CAMERA Letter, But No Correction

In an important exposé that has been cited by other major media outlets, Ha'aretz Magazine wrongly reported that there is "no possibility of compensation or appeal" with respect to the 1950 Absentee Property Law. Though CAMERA provided editors with indisputable data disproving the claim, the paper refused to correct. Instead, Ha'aretz Magazine ran the following letter from CAMERA in the Jan. 28 edition: