The Forward's Op-Ed by Sari Bashi might be the most dishonest account if Israel's vaccine program in the mainstream press. camera.org/article/forwar…
2/ How did @jdforward reply to the complaint that the article falsely claims that Israel bases its distribution of the vaccine on ethnicity, and that the ethnic group eligible for the vaccine are the Jews? @rudoren
Here's how:
Here's how:
3/ Editors told me the piece clearly states Israel vaccinates its Arab residents. No, it doesn't.
Worse, *after* the concerns were raised, they added another sentence purporting that Israel only gets vaccines for Jews: "Because I am Jewish, the authorities bought me…vaccine."
Worse, *after* the concerns were raised, they added another sentence purporting that Israel only gets vaccines for Jews: "Because I am Jewish, the authorities bought me…vaccine."
4/ How could the @jdforward claim the piece says Israel vaccinates its Arab citizens when it says no such thing? Presumably they're referring to the sentence that says Israel "has procured enough" to vaccinate all Israeli citizens including Arabs. That fails for many reasons:
5/ First, you don't have to be a wordsmith—or an editor—to recognize that "procures enough for" is different in meaning than "vaccinates."
Especially in a piece that repeatedly argues Israel only vaccines Jews, "it has enough to vaccinate others" doesn't pass muster. And worse:
Especially in a piece that repeatedly argues Israel only vaccines Jews, "it has enough to vaccinate others" doesn't pass muster. And worse:
6/ This very article uses against Israel the talking point, meant to substantiate the claim that it is using ethnic criteria to decide who gets the vaccine, that Israel has enough supply to vaccinate Palestinians but let's the doses languish in the freezer rather than inoculate.
7/ In other words, the assertion that Israel *procured enough doses for* everyone doesn't show that Israel is vaccinating its Arabs. To the contrary, in the context of the piece it works an argument that Israel's ethnic criteria is all the more "egregious." @rudoren
8/ In other other words, nowhere does the piece state that Israel is vaccinating Arabs and all other ethnic groups in the country.
It slurs Israel with *not* vaccinating Arabs, with deciding that only Jews are eligible for the vaccine, and only buying vaccines for Jews.
It slurs Israel with *not* vaccinating Arabs, with deciding that only Jews are eligible for the vaccine, and only buying vaccines for Jews.
9/ Again: After the errors were brought to the @jdforward's attention, they added a line reiterating that only Jews get vaccines: "Because I am Jewish, the authorities bought me two doses of vaccine."
They responded by making doubly sure readers were misled.
They responded by making doubly sure readers were misled.
As always, pls forgive typos.
• • •
Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to
force a refresh
