Guardian corrects Chris McGreals’s error

In addition to being viscerally hostile to Israel and its supporters, the Guardian’s Chris McGreal is also often extremely careless with the details in his reports about the Jewish state. His latest article (‘A dark day for Israeli democracy’: US Jewish groups denounce Netanyahu’s judicial overhaul, July 24) reveals another example of his pattern of sloppy reporting.
Here’s the relevant sentence:

After seven months of fierce debate, the Israeli government on Monday voted to limit the court’s ability to overturn laws and give politicians more control over judicial appointments.

The first part of that sentence is true, as the Knesset did, on Monday, pass a law revoking what’s known as “reasonableness” doctrine, limiting the Supreme Court’s ability to review and overturn government and ministerial decisions.

However, as McGreal’s colleague Bethan McKernan made clear in her Guardian report yesterday, the proposal to “give politicians more control over judicial appointments”, though part of the overall package of proposals that the coalition wants to pass, wasn’t voted on during Monday’s Knesset session.  That specific bill will likely be debated and voted on after the Knesset’s lengthy summer recess.

We contacted Guardian editors, who upheld our complaint – removing the inaccurate part of the sentence highlighted above.  They also added the following addendum.

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1 Comment

  1. says: Grimey

    It’s the old, old story – perfected by the likes of The Grauniad and the BBC. Print or publish a pack of lies about Israel, then, if forced to correct them, do so as late as possible so that readers won’t connect the original report with the correction . Contemptible – but what else can be expected from these antisemitic media.

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