Israël kapittelt buitenlandse pers

Het lijkt er op dat journalisten vanuit hun safe space in Tel Aviv nogal wat netwerken onderhouden die vooral de Palestijnse kant van het verhaal vertolken.

Voeg daar de gekleurde visie aan toe van een (hoofd)redacteur en het frame is compleet. Op deze omstandigheid komen we binnenkort nog uitgebreider terug.

Vorige week heeft u de eerste aflevering in onze serie over journalisten in Israël kunnen lezen. Door middel van een summiere samenvatting over het ontstaan van het Israëlisch – Palestijnse conflict heeft u nu een basis om te kunnen oordelen in hoeverre de buitenlandse pers in Israël objectieve journalistieke maatstaven hanteert, dan wel het tegenovergestelde.

Om uw achtergrondkennis te completeren heb ik het Goverment Press Office (GPO) in Israël per mail gevraagd te reageren op een aantal vragen, waarin ook de berichtgeving door de NRC aan de orde komt. GPO heeft geantwoord op elk van de gestelde vragen. GPO ressorteert direct onder premier Benjamin Netanyahu. De vragen met antwoorden zijn hieronder integraal overgenomen.

1. It is commonly known that headlines/articles in foreign newspaper are deliberately blaming Israel of being the aggressor in terror attacks, knife wielding Arabs/Palestinians are seen as victims.

   Question: What is the point of view of GPO in these cases of framing?
   Answer: First, “deliberately” is not a proven fact but estimation by some. There are other possible explanations. However, the GPO sees such cases as gross journalistic malpractice. It is unethical, unprofessional and unjust. From nowhere else in the world have we seen such practice in reporting.

1. Question: Does GPO contact the newspaper if headlines/articles are used to victimize Arabs/Palestinians?
   Answer: Yes, in some cases. If we had the resources we would have done that with every case, in any language and in every platform – because it dehumanizes Israelis.

1. Question: Has GPO spoken with NRC (Dutch newspaper) according the above questions?
   Answer: Indeed we have spoken to NRC. The director of Foreign Press department, Ron Paz, had sent an email to NRC reporter Derk Walters and demanded to revise the headline “Vijf Palestijnen gedood door Israelische politie” published 10 days ago. It was amended.

1. Question: Has GPO spoken with journalists according erroneous reporting? If yes, what is their general excuse for being wrongful?
   Answer: The general excuses are haste, lack of space in the headline, partial factual picture and, of course, blaming the editors in the desk for giving the headline.

1. Question: To what extent will Israel allow inaccurate reporting by newspapers or journalists?
   Answer: When the headline ignores the fact that the “Palestinian killed by Israel” was an attacker – we cannot allow it, no matter what. We will demand a correction. Even more so if the death of the Israeli is not even mentioned in the title.

1. Question: In case of repeated violations concerning question 5, what will be the sanction to these newspapers or journalists?
   Answer: The Government Press Office goal and purpose is to serve the foreign press and to enable a free coverage of Israel. The GPO has indeed the authority to revoke credentials in the most extreme cases when the anti-Israeli bias reached a level of twisting the facts in a way that the headlines describe the opposite of what happened, in inflammatory way. However, in those cases the GPO will first ask to amend what is necessary and an act of revoking cards will only be implemented after a dialogue and a hearing process. We hope never to reach this situation.

1. Question: What does Israel itself to share information with foreign journalists and are journalists interested in this information?
   Answer: For years we have our “GPO News” – daily alerts that we send to our subscribers. All the foreign journalists receive them – 4 in an average day. By average, one third of the recipients open them.

1. Question: Is Israel currently investigating any Dutch newspaper or journalists? If yes which one?
   Answer: “Investigating” is not the suitable word here. We are monitoring many Medias and receive alerts from NGO’s and private people as well, including regarding the Dutch media which is mostly very critic to Israel and very forgiving to the Palestinians, unfortunately.

We kunnen dus concluderen dat GPO zich actief opstelt bij het signaleren van gekleurde, eenzijdige, verdraaide en onjuiste berichtgeving over gebeurtenissen in Israël door in dat land werkzame buitenlandse journalisten. GPO heeft onlangs Israël-correspondent Derk Walters gevraagd de tendentieuze kop boven een NRC-artikel over een terreuraanslag op Israëli’s aan te passen.

Binnenkort meer in een volgende aflevering over journalistiek in Israël. Dan wordt ingegaan op de lastige verhouding tussen persvrijheid en staatsveiligheid.

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