In the second quarter of 2021, HonestReporting’s reach and impact continued to grow significantly. Over the last three months, we published 51 news critiques, 25 videos, and 13 educational articles on this website and through other online channels. More broadly, between July 1, 2020 and June 30, 2021, HonestReporting was mentioned by media outlets and on social media platforms almost eight times as often as during the preceding period.
With respect to citations by news outlets, specifically, over the last 12 months HonestReporting has been mentioned in articles 321 times, a major achievement outlined in the graph below.
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With respect to Q2 2021, our successes included:
In April, we helped draw media attention to the acquittal by France’s highest appeals court of Kobili Traoré, who admitted to the antisemitic murder of Sarah Halimi, a Jewish woman in her sixties. According to the court’s decision, Traoré had smoked a considerable amount of marijuana and was therefore “too high” to be held criminally responsible for his actions. The absurd — if not antisemitic — ruling was largely ignored by media throughout the world.
HonestReporting sprung to action immediately, publishing a critique and launching a social media campaign that gained widespread traction. Amid a groundswell of anger, The New York Times and other outlets eventually covered the story.
During Q2, we also raised questions about the legality of US President Joe Biden’s plan to resume financial assistance to the Palestinians. Indeed, multiple US laws preclude the transfer of funds to the Palestinian Authority or Hamas, which both incentivize terrorism against Israelis. Our petition calling on the White House to ensure that the aid is not used to reward terrorism was signed thousands of times.
More recently, during the 11-day conflict between Israel and Gaza-based terrorist organizations, we constantly challenged journalists when they failed to report the facts accurately. From May 10 to May 21, we published 14 long-form news critiques and ten videos. Our content garnered hundreds of thousands of views and was shared by influential Twitter users.
Concurrently, HonestReporting CEO Daniel Pomerantz was invited to give a series of interviews with international media outlets (see here, here, here, here, here and here), even appearing on South African television from a bomb shelter due to incoming rocket fire. Our articles and videos were republished by Algemeiner, United With Israel and Jewish World News. Furthermore, we were cited in Newsweek, The Jerusalem Post, The Times of Israel, Haaretz, Jewish News Syndicate, and The Jewish Press.
Shortly after the ceasefire, HonestReporting made global waves when we exposed Tala Halawa, a BBC journalist who had made antisemitic and genocidal statements on social media. Perhaps her most offensive tweet was posted in July 2014; she called Israel “more #Nazi than #Hitler” while adding that, “#HitlerWasRight.” Our post about Halawa was retweeted over 2,000 times. Countless media outlets — including The Daily Telegraph, Fox News and The Independent — cited our work.
In response to our campaign, the BBC opened an investigation that ultimately led to Halawa being fired.
Tala Halawa is a “digital journalist” for the @BBC.
Halawa directly influences and creates news content watched by many millions around the world.
In what world can someone like this work for a professional news outlet? pic.twitter.com/r2LIHmZfF2
— HonestReporting (@HonestReporting) May 23, 2021
As a follow-up, we launched a petition to get a long-buried report on the BBC‘s alleged anti-Israel bias published. So far, over 4,500 people have signed on. The Jerusalem Post published HonestReporting’s op-ed on the subject and, in parallel, the issue was raised in the British Parliament. We are continuing to pursue the matter and encourage our partners and supporters to get involved.
Furthermore, on June 3 we broke the news that the deputy commissioner of UNRWA expressed solidarity with Hamas, a US-designated terrorist organization. The New York Post editorial board subsequently picked up on our scoop and included a link to our article in an editorial. The publication’s website attracts over a hundred million visitors monthly.
Just days later, HonestReporting revealed the possible reason why Vice continues to pump out slanted media coverage about the Jewish state. We uncovered that some members of its editorial staff wrote shocking antisemitic messages on their personal Twitter accounts. We subsequently contacted Vice but have not yet received a response.
On June 23, we reported on the seizure by the US government of PressTV.com, one of Iran’s English-language state-run news websites. The impact was made stark when the Deputy CEO of the propaganda channel, Ahmad Noroozi, threatened us on social media: “You don’t understand that such actions only harm you. The blow will come your way,” he crowed.
You don’t understand that such actions only harm you. The blow will come your way. https://t.co/w2rpj5AtNc
— Ahmad Noroozi (@ANoroozee) June 30, 2021
This week, we prompted The New York Times to correct an inaccurate description of the dynamics concerning the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. This was reminiscent of another success story: In May, we forced Qatar-funded Al Jazeera to take down a Tweet and edit an article claiming “Jewish settlers [were] storming Al-Aqsa compound.”
Given our newfound ability to track millions of articles and social media posts using advanced technological software, we can now measure our growing influence. In fact, from July 1, 2019 to June 30, 2020, HonestReporting received a total of 5,970 mentions across all news and online platforms. Between July 1, 2020 and June 30, 2021 this figure skyrocketed to 46,400.
Be that as it may, we know we can do more by expanding our staff and enhancing our capabilities. You can help HonestReporting by subscribing to our IsraBites newsletter; notifying us when you identify anti-Israel bias in the media; circulating our materials through your own channels; or through a donation.
We thank you sincerely for your ongoing trust.
Together, we will no doubt reach new heights.
