Indy editors upheld a complaint we filed last month concerning an article falsely claiming that Jeruslaem had approved 5,300 new “settlements”. The piece (“Israel accused of risking hostage lives by invoking controversial ‘Hannibal Directive’ during 7 October attack”, July 8), by reporter Alisha Rahaman Sarkar, included the following:
UN officials say another 500 Palestinians have been killed in the West Bank, where Benjamin Netanyahu’s government recently approved the construction of another 5,300 Jewish settlements…
We explained in our complaint that the construction plans that were approved by the government pertained to 5,300 individual homes within existing West Bank settlements, as opposed to 5,300 new “settlements”. For context, there are currently less than 150 West Bank settlements in total. Further, the government recently approved boundaries for the first new West Bank settlement since 2017.
Here’s the amended sentence:
UN officials say another 500 Palestinians have been killed in the West Bank, where Benjamin Netanyahu’s government recently approved the construction of another 5,300 Jewish homes…
The following editor’s note was added:
