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AP Corrects After Arabicizing Historic Israeli Site

Arabicizing Hebrew place names is one method used to delegitimize Israel and Jewish roots in the region. The mainstream media, however, are expected to refer to the names of villages, towns and cities in modern-day…

Simon Plosker
November 6, 2022
2:02 pm

Reading time: < 1 minutes

That’s why we called out Associated Press for this:

Why is @AP referring to the well-known and internationally recognized Israeli town of Rosh Hanikra as "Ras Hanikra"? Using semi-Arabicized spellings of Israeli places is a form of delegitimization. https://t.co/qUEug5XVMO pic.twitter.com/AgmPFF3PDZ

— HonestReporting (@HonestReporting) October 24, 2022

Rosh Hanikra is a chalk cliff on the beach of Upper Galilee on the border between Israel and Lebanon, chiseled out into labyrinthine grottoes filled with seawater formed by the geological and biological processes and by waves lapping on the soft rock.

It was known during the Arab conquest of the region as Ras-A-Nakura. AP’s reference to “Ras Hanikra” appears to be an erroneous amalgam of Arabic and Hebrew. But it is certainly wrong.

The error has now been corrected as a result of correspondence between HonestReporting and AP.

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Tags: AP, Associated Press, correction, Rosh Hanikra

Simon Plosker

With over two decades of experience in various non-governmental organizations in the UK and Israel, Simon Plosker returned to HonestReporting in October 2022 as Editorial Director having previously been part of the organization’s management team from 2005 to 2020. Prior to his first spell at HonestReporting, Simon worked in Israel for NGO Monitor, BICOM, and served for a short period in the IDF Spokesperson’s Unit. He was Managing Editor of the Geneva-based NGO United Nations Watch for two years before moving back to the frontline defending Israel from media bias. Simon has a BSoc.Sc in International Studies and Political Science from the University of Birmingham and an MSc in History of International Relations from the London School of Economics. He immigrated to Israel in 2001 from London.

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