An egregious line about the age of Israeli border guards has been amended following an exchange between HonestReporting and the Daily Telegraph.
A December 30 piece by film critic Tim Robey covered the release of the Palestinian film “Mayor.” While the article was generally fair, there was one line which struck our editorial team as a bit strange. That is, a reference to “an overzealous 16-year-old border guard.”
As any Israeli can attest, the age at which soldiers are drafted into the IDF is 18. (Sometimes the draft is deferred by a year or two, but the draft is never brought ahead before the age of 18.) Quite simply, there are no 16-year-old soldiers or border guards in the Israeli armed forces and police.
HonestReporting reached out to Robey via Twitter the day the piece was published. To his credit, Robey responded as soon as he saw the message with a promise to check the relevant part of the film, and subsequently changed the text to more accurately reflect what was said:
“an overzealous border guard looking barely older than 16.”
A subtle change, but an important distinction. For correcting the errant statement, and instead recording that the guard merely appeared young, The Telegraph is to be commended.
