Last week Ha’aretz reported, in an interview given in Hebrew to an “orthodox newspaper”, the Chief Rabbi of Israel, Rabbi Lau had refused “to call Pittsburgh massacre site a synagogue because it’s non-orthodox”.
That is a lie. They put it in a headline because they knew it would divide Jews and enflame feelings in the wake of the horrific murders of Jews in Pittsburgh.
Here’s what Rabbi Lau actually said, my emphasis:
According to the full interview with Lau, however, he appeared at pains to separate the Pittsburgh tragedy from that ongoing controversy. In response to the interviewer’s question about the fact that the site of the shooting was a Conservative synagogue, Lau said, heatedly, “What bearing does that have on this? That is irrelevant. We are talking about Jews who were killed just for being Jews. What is the question? There is nothing to discuss about their affiliation. They were killed because they were Jews! Does it matter in which synagogue they pray in or what text they use?”
(In Hebrew, the last phrase is “Zeh m’shaneh b’eizeh beit knesset o nusach hem mitpalelim?” Beit knesset, or “house of assembly,” is the standard Hebrew word for a synagogue.)
Lau continued in this impassioned vein after the interviewer noted that the haredi media won’t use “synagogue” to refer to a Reform or Conservative house of worship. Lau said he doesn’t speak for the haredi media, and that he often disagrees with what they do and write.
That quote is taken from an apology piece by Andrew Silow-Carroll, editor in chief of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency (JTA). He was apologizing on November 1st because his agency had read the Washington Post version of Ha’aretz English’s lies, copy and pasted by Ruth Eglash, of this Ha’aretz lie and then put out their own piece which was then spread far and wide as you’d expect from the oldest and most influential Jewish news agency.
JTA have distinguished themselves somewhat by going back and correcting the original piece:
Obviously failing to commit any act of journalism before amplifying a lie is a pretty serious mistake for JTA.
The original Ha’aretz piece by Judy Maltz remains on Ha’aretz without a correction. The erroneous claims are then repeated a day later because, of course, Ha’aretz had to attack Netanyahu with their fake quote to get his reaction (he “rebuffed” what Ha’retz told him the Chief Rabbi had said of course). This all features on Google, of course with no sign of a correction. I’ve asked both Judy Maltz and Ruth Eglash on Twitter if they plan on correcting their lies; no answer yet.
Ha’aretz English either can’t translate Hebrew into English or deliberately rely on their status to know they can say anything they like and people like Ruth Eglash at the Washington Post (who is based in Israel) won’t even commit the most rudimentary act of journalism and check if the quotation in Ha’aretz from Makor Rishon is in its proper context, accurate or even accurately translated.
We’ve found this time and again with Ha’aretz in English. And strangely, just like every other mistake they make, this mistake paints orthodox Jews in a horrible light and seeks to amplify and further divide Jews of all denominations making use of an horrific mass murder of Jews.
This FakeNews is most definitely the enemy of the Jewish people.
