Advocacy journalist Sarah Helm has a nasty habit of distorting facts, embellishment and employing hyperbole to support the Palestinian narrative in her stories.
Earlier this year we called her out for using a quote falsely attributed to David Ben Gurion in The Independent. Last year we took Helm to task for an opinion piece in The Guardian that was littered with bias and blatant falsehoods.
Other examples of Helm’s bias have been cataloged at UK Media Watch.
On May 13, The Independent published another piece by Helm: “Israel at 70: Why Gaza’s refugees and their descendants will never forget their violent expulsion.”
It included the following:
As we did when the New York Times corrected the very same error, we pointed out that the fence is electronic and will alert the IDF to any tampering or breach but it will certainly not shock or electrocute anyone if they touch it.
As a result, The Independent removed the reference to the “sometimes electrified fence.”
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But there was something else. The original text referred to “the barrier wall – sometimes electrified fence – that encloses the coastal strip.”
There was also another reference to the “barrier wall”:
We pointed out to The Independent that the majority of the barrier is a fence. As a result, editors removed “wall” from the above sentence.
All well and good except that this was clearly more than just a simple misuse of terminology.
Relating to the aftermath of the Oslo Accords and the resulting Palestinian terror campaign, Sarah Helm writes:
We asked the IDF about this “wall” that was so high, it was obscuring “the whole of Gaza from Israel’s view.”
We were informed that there are only a few kilometers of wall along the 65 kilometers of the border, which are located in the Nativ Ha’asara area and in the Kerem Shalom area, which are adjacent to the fence. In these communities, a wall is necessary in order to protect the lives of the residents living a few meters from the Gaza Strip.
It was also explained that there is a small walled extension from the Karni Crossing but this doesn’t take away from the fact that the structure surrounding the Gaza Strip is essentially a fence with some small sections of wall. It should not be termed a wall in the sense of an individual all encompassing structure.
So how can Sarah Helm possibly claim that she has personally seen this high wall that surrounds Gaza and prevents Israelis from seeing into the territory?
One of the above photos clearly shows the view of Beit Lakhia in the Gaza Strip from the Israeli side of the fence. Palestinians have been rioting at multiple locations along the Gaza border where it can clearly be seen from footage that they are attempting to break through a fence not a wall.
The reality is that Helm has resorted to describing the most vivid imagery she can in order to promote a narrative of Palestinians imprisoned in Gaza.
It’s hard to know what’s more disturbing – Helm’s distortions of reality or The Independent’s willingness to publish them.
As yet, The Independent has failed to correct the error. Please send your complaints to The Independent through its online feedback form.
