A Jerusalem Post Mistake Provokes Gleeful Tweets From the Anti-Israel Brigade

by Hugh Fitzgerald

Those who visit the online English-language sites of Israeli newspapers quickly become aware of how biased — against their own country – certain of those newspapers turn out to be. Haaretz is the worst of the lot; its criticism of the Israeli government, of the IDF, and of “settlers” has become comically predictable. The Jerusalem Post has also proven to be worrisome, not because of any malice aforethought, but because of the misstatements, the product of editorial negligence, that can result in damage to Israel’s image and provide fodder for those who so dislike it.

A recent example was posted by the Elder of Ziyon:

A plane carrying over a million surgical masks for the IDF landed in Ben-Gurion airport Tuesday night, in an operation run by the US Department of Defense’s Delegation of Procurement.” [quote from a Jerusalem Post story]

Elder of Ziyon notes:

Predictably, and understandably, the anti-Israel crowd went crazy over the idea that the US was giving much-needed protection equipment to Israel rather than to local hospitals that desperately need them.

This story makes it sound as if the US Department of Defense’s Delegation of Procurement was “giving” – that is, ordered, paid for, and delivered — the 1 million surgical masks to Israel. None of that is true.

A few hours later, without explanation, the Jerusalem Post changed the story:

“A plane carrying over a million surgical masks for the IDF landed in Ben-Gurion Airport Tuesday night, in an operation aimed to protect soldiers on the frontlines of preventing the spread of the coronavirus.”

What happened? Did the censor pull the story?

No. The Jerusalem Post screwed up royally. They mistranslated, or used Google Translate, a story in Hebrew – possibly this one – where the phrase “In a procurement initiative of the Ministry of Defence’s procurement mission in the United States” was turned into “US Department of Defense’s Delegation of Procurement.” 

The haters, being who they are, will never admit that they widely pushed a false story.

The Jerusalem Post is a major paper. One assumes it would not entrust translations from Hebrew into English to Google Translate, with its well-documented howlers, but use human translators who are incomparably better. And the antennae of the Post’s editors ought to have been set aquiver by a story claiming that Israel was “given” one million masks from the U.S. Since that would be extremely unlikely, given the great need for masks in America, shouldn’t the Jerusalem Post editors have double-checked the translation to see if an error had been made – as, in fact, it had? And why did the Jerusalem Post, when it finally printed the accurate version of the story, not do the proper thing and acknowledge its previous error? Did it hope no one would notice?

Also of note is the malicious glee of members of the anti-Israel brigade, who responded to the original (false) story – of the U.S. supposedly sending one million of its own masks to Israel – by using it as one more excuse to let loose with their nasty tweets about the Zionists who run things in Washington, where their needs take precedence over the needs of Americans.

Here are the tweets that were posted about the Jerusalem Post’s original story:

Rebecca Vilkomerson

cool cool cool so the Israeli army

can’t be safe while manning checkpoints

destroying homes, arresting children

bulldozing trees, protecting settlers

etc. while our doctors and nurses and

essential workers….????

Jewish Voice for Peace

These are not heroes. The IDF have

committed heinous acts during this

pandemic—including spitting on

Palestinians. Meanwhile U.S. nurses

are on the streets calling for masks

and protective gear. What does the

U.S. leadership truly care about?

Jamil Dakwar

It’s outrageous that while states and

cities around the country are

struggling to procure masks and

other PPEs the U.S. Department

of Defense is giving the Israeli military 1

million masks ordered from China and

shipped directly to Israel

sippin on dat

a million masks FOR THE IDF!

Colonialism truly never stops

Now that the Jerusalem Post has corrected itself, and the real story is out – that Israel was not given masks by the U.S., but bought one million masks from China that had been ordered by the Israeli Procurement Mission in the U.S. — none of the gleeful and vicious tweeters above felt the need to apologize for accusing Israel of taking masks away from the Americans. Their insensate attacks on Israel, so swiftly prompted, are a deplorable sign of the times. One poster, Rebecca Vilkomerson, proclaims that Israel has been mistreating in every possible way the “Palestinians” – “destroying homes, arresting children, bulldozing trees, protecting settlers etc.” What’s more, a Jewish Voice for Peace tweeter charges that the IDF has been trying to spread the coronavirus by “spitting” on Palestinians which, as all sane people know, is a lie. It is the Palestinians who have been spitting on IDF soldiers, in order to spread the coronavirus among the Zionist enemy. And it’s not just the Palestinians — many Muslims throughout the world have brazenly called on their coreligionists to spread the virus among the Infidels. You can find quite a few of them making that diabolical suggestion at www.Memri.org.

Only two of the tweeters even bothered to recognize the Jerusalem Post’s corrected story. The first was Jamil Dakwar, who posted a correction: “It’s not the U.S. Department of Defense but rather the Israeli Ministry of Defense’s procurement mission in the United States who purchased the masks from China and had them shipped to Israel.”

Particularly outrageous was the second person who acknowledged the mistranlation but still wanted to bash Israel. This was the JVP (Jewish Voice for Peace), which wrote: “So, a mistranslation but morally wrong that the IDF get 1 million masks while our nurses and doctors call for basic protection during this pandemic. The US gives $38 billion to Israel [sic!]. “Israeli Ministry of Defense’s Procurement Mission In the U.S. is MILITARY and this is reprehensible.”

Look at that tweet. Even though Israel bought the masks from China, even though the U.S. had absolutely no role either in their purchase, or in their shipment from China to Israel, this “Jewish Voice for Peace” is determined to bash the Israelis with whatever is at hand. So he/she claims it is wrong for Israel to behave just like every other country on earth stricken with the coronavirus is now behaving – that is, to try to buy, or manufacture, as many masks as it can. It is apparently the position of this JVP member that Israel is uniquely to be criticized for daring to buy masks. Does this JVP “voice for peace” feel the same when other nations, including dozens that are Muslim, buy masks on the world market? How does this “voice for peace” feel about the rich Gulf Arabs buying millions of masks? Shouldn’t they be asked to wait until the U.S. has acquired all it needs? And what about the Palestinians, who now demand to be supplied with masks? Should they have to wait, just as JVP wants the Israelis to do? Or are there special privileges to be accorded the Palestinians, who deserve masks before all others because…well, because they are Israel ‘s foe and therefore deserve special dispensation?

JVP claims in the tweet that “the US gives $38 billion to Israel.” This sounds as if that sum is what Israel receives annually in aid from Israel. In fact, that figure refers to the total to be supplied to Israel over a ten-year period, from FY2019 to FY2028. That means Israel will receive not $38 billion annually, as JVP tries slyly to suggest, but $3.8 billion. Much of that will be used by Israel for the purchase of American weapons.

The military alliance with Israel provides the Americans with many benefits. As many – but not JVP – know, Israel shares its advances in military technology, including drones, missile defense, and cybersecurity, with the Americans. Israel also supplies the Americans with the fruits of its superb intelligence in the Arab and Muslim world. Hundreds of terrorist attacks on Americans (and Europeans) have been foiled due to information supplied from Mossad. It would be hard to put a price tag on Israeli contributions to American security — its advances in drone technology, cybersecurity, and missile defense, its intelligence on Islamic terrorism that it shares with Washington – but there are many who believe that it at least equals the amount Israel receives in American military aid.

JVP doesn’t think Israelis have a right to buy protective equipment from China, as long as America still needs masks for itself. Apparently, according to JVP, Israel should be subject to restrictions in protecting its population from the coronavirus that no other country or people are being asked to accept. After all, neither Israel, that settler-colonialist-imperialist state, nor those selfish mask-hoarding settler-colonialist-imperialist Israelis, have a right to survive. As for the Palestinians, the American government should make amends for moving its embassy to Jerusalem by sending the Palestinian Authority one – no, make that two, or maybe five, million – masks. That’s the least we can do.

First published in Jihad Watch.