English Translation Takes a Beating At Ha'aretz

Tamar Sternthal..
CAMERA Media Analyses..
04 September '12..



The latest case of "Ha'aretz, Lost in Translation" occupies a prominent position in yesterday's paper. "Border Police caught on video beating elderly Palestinian man" was the dramatic headline in the English edition of Ha'aretz, both in print and online. The online edition also included the sub-headline: "Clip shows Faraj Sub-Labn, a man of around 60, collapsing on the ground after being shoved onto a parked military vehicle near his home in the northern Jerusalem village of Dahiat Al-Barid." Here is a screen of the headline as it appears as of publishing time:

Many readers skim the news, reading only the headlines. So most would not bother with the more detailed article, which mentions nothing about a "beating." Rather, the first paragraph of the article states:

A video showing Border Police officers manhandling a Palestinian man in East Jerusalem while carrying out arrests in a Palestinian village outside Jerusalem on Thursday was been posted on YouTube after being recorded by one of the man's neighbors. The clip shows Faraj Sub-Labn, a man of around 60, collapsing on the ground after being shoved onto a parked military vehicle near his home in the northern Jerusalem village of Dahiat Al-Barid. (Emphasis added.)

The article continues further down:

"Get your hands off of me," the police officer screamed, before shoving Sub-Labn backward. . . .

"I'm standing in front of the house and I tell him you're not coming into this house, you don't have permission," Sub-Labn related, at which point the commander jumped at him and shoved him at one of his soldiers, who forced him onto the armored vehicle. (Emphasis added.)

"They dragged me along the ground, threw me, and I lay on the ground," he said."

In other words, while the more visible headline speaks of a "beating," the less visible, more detailed article describes pushing, but no beating. What actually happened in the video? Curious English readers have no way of knowing. Unlike earlier articles describing videos documenting Israeli violence, Ha'aretz's English online article yesterday neither embeds the video nor provides a capture image from or link to the video. Instead, the online English edition includes an unrelated photograph of border policemen in Jerusalem. The Hebrew article, in contrast, helpfully does embed the YouTube video.

Ari Shavit frustrated: Netanyahu did not include text from trial balloon in address to Congress

Dr. Aaron Lerner
IMRA
26 May '11




[Dr. Aaron Lerner - IMRA: Someone provided Ari Shavit with a 30 word text "trial balloon" that was ostensibly going to be included in PM Netanyahu's address to the US Congress. It remains unclear just how committed Mr. Netanyahu was to including the 30 words. After all, it would not be the first time that staffers and others lobbying for a prime minister to follow their recommendations leaked their ideas to a reporter in the hopes that the trial balloon takes on a life of itself. Then again, there is also the possibility that Mr. Netanyahu himself was toying with the 30 word text and shared the information with Shavit.


What happened?


Let's not forget that before PM Netanyahu arrived in the U.S. the Israeli media was gleefully marching Netanyahu down the gangplank, predicting that he was going to be devoured by President Obama.


It is conceivable that, out of sheer desperation, Mr. Netanyahu prepared a 30 word text to use as a last measure to avoid - or at least postpone - disaster.


But that's not how things played out.


American leadership and many in the American media were troubled by President Obama's remarks before Netanyahu's arrival.


And then a big surprise: it was thought that the concept that Israel was not required by 242 to provide a Palestinian state with a land mass equal in size to the West Bank and Gaza Strip was too complicated to explicitly argue. But it turned out that the opposite was the case. American leaders and the media not only followed the argument - many embraced it.


In fact, a whole series of serious points were relayed, absorbed and accepted.


So by the time Prime Minister Netanyahu made his way to Congress to deliver his address the situation had radically changed.


Instead of having to cower and offer a 30 word text to the "concessions Moleh", Mr. Netanyahu could hold his head high and present Israel's case.


And so he did.


And a frustrated Ari Shavit along with most of the rest of the Israeli media joined in trying to explain to the Israeli public that it was a disaster.


A view that the Israeli public - despite the media offensive - utterly rejected.]

===============================
Netanyahu's peace stance is running Israel into a wall
Barak and Meridor must make it clear to the prime minister this week that if an Israeli initiative doesn't materialize pronto, they will quit. Who knows? Perhaps, faced with a real threat, he will finally emerge from his shell.

By Ari Shavit
http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/opinion/netanyahu-s-peace-stance-is-running-israel-into-a-wall-1.364109 Published 02:51 26.05.11Latest update 02:51 26.05.11

When Benjamin Netanyahu became prime minister, he had to formulate a peace strategy. He had to decide whether he aspired to reach an interim agreement or a final-status one with the Palestinians. He opted to go for a final-status agreement.

Rubin: Israeli People and Experts: We Support Netanyahu and Don’t Want to Return to 1967 Borders. U.S. Media: Israelis Don’t Like Netanyahu and Israeli Experts Say 1967 Borders are OK

Barry Rubin
The Rubin Report
26 May '11

http://rubinreports.blogspot.com/2011/05/israeli-people-and-experts-we-support.html

We are living in Satireworld. I mean what more can you say? Well, I can say the title of this article that sums it up:

Israeli People and Experts: We Support Netanyahu and Don’t Want to Return to 1967 Borders.

U.S. Media: Israelis Don’t Like Netanyahu and Israeli Experts Say 1967 Borders are OK

Here's the evidence:

New York Times headline:" Israelis See Netanyahu Trip as Diplomatic Failure."

“Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel returned from Washington on Wednesday to a nearly unanimous assessment among Israelis that despite his forceful defense of Israel's security interests, hopes were dashed that his visit might advance peace negotiations with the Palestinians.”

Actually, Israelis generally have no hopes that anything is going to advance peace negotiations with the Palestinians because even though it makes them unhappy they know that the Palestinians don't want to advance peace negotiations. But that theme--the Palestinian leadership doesn't want peace--is not permitted in virtually all of the American mass media.

And who cares that the article is the exact opposite of the truth:

Ha’aretz headline: "Ha'aretz Poll: Netanyahu's Popularity Soaring Following Washington Trip"

"A new poll conducted by Dialog, under the supervision of Prof. Camil Fuchs of the Tel Aviv University Statistics Department, showed that 47% of the Israeli public believes Netanyahu's U.S. trip was a success, while only 10% viewed it as a failure."

Because the American media wants to tell its public the exact opposite:

Washington Post [should be but isn't] headline: Israelis Oppose '67 Borders with Land Swaps

Oops! That’s not the headline! The real headline is: “Netanyahu says pre-1967 borders are indefensible for Israel, but experts wonder if that’s so.”

Get it? What does Netanyahu know? Obama knows better and Israeli experts (two of them!) agree with him.

If hundreds of thousands of lives weren't at stake this would all be very funny.