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HR Prompts Haaretz Palestinian ‘Embassy’ Headline Correction

Haaretz reports: “The Trump administration has notified the Palestinian Authority that unless it enters serious peace negotiations with Israel, the U.S. could shut down the Palestinian diplomatic delegation in Washington, D.C. within the next few months.”…

Simon Plosker
November 19, 2017
12:00 am

Reading time: 2 minutes

Haaretz reports: “The Trump administration has notified the Palestinian Authority that unless it enters serious peace negotiations with Israel, the U.S. could shut down the Palestinian diplomatic delegation in Washington, D.C. within the next few months.”

Also included in the story is a tweet from the Palestinians themselves:

On Israel’s demand to shut down the PLO General Delegation to the United States#PalestineInUSA @hzomlot pic.twitter.com/O4D7rcngCY

— Palestine in the US (@PalestineUSA) September 30, 2017

So if neither the story text nor an official Palestinian tweet referred to a Palestinian “embassy,” why did Haaretz’s headline?

The US does not recognize Palestinian statehood and therefore, the Palestinian diplomatic representation in Washington D.C. does not have the status of an embassy.

Shortly after HonestReporting contacted Haaretz to point this out, the headline was amended and the word “Embassy” changed to “Mission.”

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Tags: currentnews, embassy, Ha'aretz, headline bias, Misleading terminology, palestinians, success

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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