We complained to Indy editors last month about an article (“Brooklyn man among five Americans shot in Israel says it’s ‘the safest place in the world”, Aug 15) which included the following about last month’s conflict between Israel and Palestinain Islamic Jihad (PIJ):
The attack comes a week after 17 children were reported among the 49 civilians and several Palestinian fighters killed by Israel in airstrikes over the Gaza Strip, in what Israeli authorities said was aimed at preventing an imminent threat to Israel.
As we noted to editors, it’s not true that there were 49 civilians, including 17 children, killed by Israel in airstrikes. In fact, the very source embeded in the sentence is an Associated Press piece which makes it clear that far more than “several” of those killed in Gaza were “fighters”, while also adding that many of the Palestinains (up to 16) were likely killed by errant PIJ rockets.
After serveral follow-up emails to editors, our complaint was finally upheld, and the sentence revised thusly:
The attack came a week after several children were reported to be among at least 47 civilians and Palestinian fighters killed by airstrikes over the Gaza Strip. Sixteen people were reportedly killed by Palestinian rockets that fell short.
The following addendum was added:
