Commenting at Gershom Gorenberg’s South Jerusalem blog, Ruth Abrams reveals that JTA has issued a correction to its subscribers saying that Leslie Susser’s report that Israeli police sources claimed 20% of East Jerusalem Palestinians were implicated in terrorism was wrong. I’d reported the error to Ami Eden of JTA. Given our rocky history, Ami didn’t see fit to communicate directly to me the correction. Probably doesn’t want to admit to me that this happened.
Of course, the damage has been done and few if any Jewish papers carrying the original report will note the serious error. That will mean that countless America Jews will carry in their minds the idea that 45,000 East Jerusalem Arabs are terrorists.
If only JTA’s Israel-related stories adhered to standards of other good Jewish journalism like that practiced at The Forward or Jewish Week.
Gershom, being the good journalist he is, followed up on the JTA report with the interior ministry’s office and discovered that at most a few hundred East Jerusalem residents are implicated in even the remotest way with terrorism. That’s a far sight better than 45,000!
