Earlier in the month, we posted about a op-ed in The Scotsman written by former Indy Middle East correspondent Ben Lynfield which, in addition to being riddled with distortions and hyperbole, included two clearly false claims:
Here’s the first claim we complained about to The Scotsman:
The symbiosis [between the IDF and settlers] is structural, with each of the settlements having a security coordinator from the settlement who has command power over the troops stationed there
We realised intuitively this couldn’t be true, as, by definition, other than government officials within the military chain of command (such as the Defence Minister or Prime Minister), civilians can not have command power over Israeli soldiers, a fact which was confirmed in an exchange we had with the IDF Spokesperson Unit.
Here’s the second claim we complained about:
Last weekend, the army helped messianic settlers in an effort to establish another illegal outpost, this time in the Jordan River valley in an abandoned army post. The move touched off Palestinian protests, which the army quelled.
The IDF confirmed to us that this too was false. There was no effort by settlers to “establish another illegal outpost” in the Jordan Valley. All that happened was that a group of settlers took a two-day trip to an abandoned IDF base, after getting consent by the IDF on the condition that they voluntarily vacate at the end, which they did.
After a series of communications with Scotsman editors, the finally removed both false claims from the op-ed.
Related Posts
Five questions for Mohammed el-Kurd the British media won’t ask
Like the majority of British media these days if they can twist the truth into a lie to denigrate Israel then they will, it is just another form of racism
#defundthebbc
#journalismisdead