Does "Ha'aretz" Not Know Where East Jerusalem is? Or is it Just Bias?
CAMERA .Org 07.10.2021
CAMERA’s Israel office this week prompted corrections to an article in Haaretz‘s English edition which had erroneously reported that the former U.S. Consulate in Jerusalem was located in eastern Jerusalem.
The Oct. 3 headline had erred: “Palestinian officials say U.S. Seeks to Reopen East Jerusalem Consulate After Israel Approves Budget.” In fact, the Palestinian Affairs Unit of the U.S. Consulate in Jerusalem had been on Agron Street in western Jerusalem. The article had likewise misreported:
"Senior U.S. officials have informed the Palestinian Authority that the American Consulate in East Jerusalem is due to reopen as planned in several weeks, Palestinian officials told Haaretz. . . .
The East Jerusalem consulate served Palestinians from the West Bank, East Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip, but was closed by the Trump administration in 2018." (Emphases added.)
The errors originated in the English edition. Haaretz‘s Jack Khoury had accurately reported in the Hebrew version of the same article (translation by CAMERA):
"Palestinian Authority sources said that they were updated by senior officials in the American administration that the consulate for East Jerusalem residents will open as planned in several weeks, after the approval of the Israeli budget.
According to the Palestinian sources who spoke with Haaretz, government officials told them that the U.S. State Department approved an operation budget for the consulate in the western part of the city, and additional steps were taken to bring the implement the fruition.
The sources states that they still don’t know if the government intends to establish the consulate only in the Agron Street building or whether it will open additional offices on Nablus street in the eastern part of the capital."
In response to communication from CAMERA’s Israel office, Haaretz editors commendably amended both the headline and the opening paragraphs. The amended headline now accurately reports: “Palestinian Officials Say U.S. Seeks to Reopen Consulate Serving East Jerusalem After Israel Approves Budget.”
The updated opening paragraph currently state:
"Senior U.S. officials have informed the Palestinian Authority that the American Consulate serving East Jerusalem is due to reopen as planned in several weeks, Palestinian officials told Haaretz. …
The consulate served Palestinians from the West Bank, East Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip, but was closed by the Trump administration in 2018."
In addition, a note was appended to the bottom of the article indicating: “This article was amended on 4/10/2021.”
Nevertheless, editors failed to fully correct the following self-contradictory paragraph:
"It remains unclear, according to the officials, whether the consulate would operate out of the Agron Road compound in West Jerusalem – which until early 2019, with the inauguration of the Jerusalem embassy, housed the U.S. Consulate in Jerusalem – or a building on Nablus Road, deeper into East Jerusalem, which had been the location of the U.S. Consulate before it was shuttered."
This confused paragraph can’t decide if Agron Road is “in West Jerusalem” (it is), or if it is in East Jerusalem (per the phrasing about a Nablus Road building, “deeper into East Jerusalem.”) It also can’t decide whether the Agron building “housed the U.S. Consulate in Jerusalem” until 2019, or whether the Nablus Road building “had been the location of the U.S. Consulate before it was shuttered.”
The Agron building in western Jerusalem housed the U.S. Consulate in Jerusalem and its Palestinian Affairs Unit, whereas the Nablus Road building housed America House Jerusalem, a center for cultural, tech and educational programs.
The amended text does not include the “deeper into East Jerusalem” reference. However, it still contains the contradictory historical account:
"It remains unclear, according to the officials, whether the consulate would operate out of the Agron Road compound in West Jerusalem – which until early 2019, with the inauguration of the Jerusalem embassy, housed the U.S. Consulate in Jerusalem – or a building on Nablus Road, in East Jerusalem, which had been the location of the U.S. Consulate before it was shuttered."
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