UPDATE 3
HonestReporting’s complaint to the Washington Post also affected media further afield. The Australia Israel and Jewish Affairs Council (AIJAC) explains:
On August 29, the Age, Canberra Times and Sydney Morning Herald websites ran a Washington Post report about the controversial Palestinian village of Susiya in Area C of the West Bank – that is the area under full Israeli control, with relatively few Palestinian residents.
…
A complaint by pro-Israel media organisation Honest Reporting prompted the Post to amend the story to now say the “Israeli right”, not the government, wants to annex Area C.
…
After the error was brought to the attention of Fairfax, the organisation to its credit excised the complete sentence from its various websites, so there is no reference to the Israeli Government or the Israeli right wanting to annex Area C.
Instead, Fairfax substituted a new sentence to the online report so it now more accurately reflects the reality of the support for annexation of Area C:
Israeli Agriculture Minister Uri Ariel, whose far-right Jewish Home party has strong support from settlers, has recently called on the government to formally annex Area C, where 200 Jewish settlements are located, saying that a two-state solution is unworkable.
Additionally, a shorter version that was published in the hardcopy of the Age, Canberra Times and Sydney Morning Herald on Aug. 30 had omitted the original paragraph claiming that the Israeli Government wanted to annex Area C.
If only the Washington Post had reacted in this way.
UPDATE 2
The following has appeared in the September 2 print edition of the Washington Post:
Still no sign, however, of a similar acknowledgement in the online version.
UPDATE
Following HonestReporting’s requests, the Washington Post has made a subtle yet necessary correction to the paragraph in question, which has removed the word “government.” It now reads:
However, there is no acknowledgment anywhere that a correction has been made or that an error was committed in the first instance.
Furthermore, the amendment to the sentence is also problematic. What exactly is the “Israeli right?” Such a broad label would include many on the political right, including inside Israel’s Likud Party who don’t necessarily advocate annexing Area C. Without any proper context or further definition, such a blanket claim is also inaccurate.
Sorry, Washington Post – it’s not good enough.
* * *
Controversy over Palestinian building in the disputed territories has been exacerbated by the direct involvement of the European Union, which has given financial and political support to Palestinians fighting against Israeli demolition orders.
The Washington Post‘s latest story covers the situation in the “ramshackle village” of Susya. The Washington Post is correct when it describes Area C as “the 60 percent of the West Bank completely controlled by the Israeli military, which oversees both security and civilian affairs” there.
However, the Post goes on to claim:
Putting aside whether the two-state solution is currently unworkable or not, Israeli government policy has never advocated formally annexing Area C, something that would have incredibly far-reaching geopolitical implications.
While this is a policy of the Bayit Hayehudi (Jewish Home) party that currently has eight Knesset Members as part of the Israeli coalition government, the party has not, however, succeeded in making its wish to annex Area C into the formal policy of Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu’s government.
HonestReporting has contacted the Washington Post and Jerusalem bureau chief William Booth to request a correction.
.@BoothWilliam @washingtonpost Official Israeli govt policy is not 2 formally annex Area C. Pls correct the error. https://t.co/8ZqntPioTp
— HonestReporting (@HonestReporting) August 29, 2016
Watch this space.
