UPDATE
A short time after this critique was published and prompted by yours and our complaints, Time changed its headline to AP’s original: “Israel Expands Government, Lieberman to Be Defense Minister.”
* * *
Time magazine covers the coalition agreement between Benjamin Netanyahu and Yisrael Beiteinu party leader Avigdor Lieberman. The story headline and accompanying tweet focus narrowly on Lieberman’s penchant for bombastic and controversial statements.
Did Lieberman really threaten to “kill Palestinians?”
No.
The article itself, republished from the Associated Press, states:
Over the years, Lieberman has made headlines for a series of incendiary comments. At one point, he called for bombing Egypt’s Aswan Dam and suggested toppling the internationally-backed Palestinian Authority in the West Bank. Just a few weeks ago, he threatened to kill a Hamas leader in the Gaza Strip. He has repeatedly voiced skepticism about pursuing peace with the Palestinians.
There’s a significant difference between threatening to kill a specific Hamas leader in the Gaza Strip and threatening to kill Palestinians. The headline falsely attributes Lieberman as an advocate of genocide.
And just in case there is any doubt as to the sensationalist intent of Time’s headline writer, it’s worth comparing with the original, impartial headline as published by AP itself:
A complaint has been sent to Time as well as a tweet asking for its inaccurate and inflammatory headline to be changed.
.@TIME Lieberman didn’t threaten 2 “kill Palestinians.” Yr own story says that he referred 2 a specific Hamas leader. Change yr headline.
— HonestReporting (@HonestReporting) May 25, 2016
You can send your own complaint to Time – [email protected]
© Divuach Ne’eman R”A, 2025
