It began with an inflammatory quote from President Barack Obama's diplomatic point man charged with resurrecting Israeli-Palestinian peace talks.
“Our policy is simple,” US Middle East envoy George Mitchell was quoted as saying. “The Israelis lied to us all these years. And now it’s
over.”
The statement was startling and provocative. It seemed to affirm concerns that Israel-US relations were reaching a potential breaking point.
There was only one problem. The quote, published in Israel's Maariv newspaper, wasn't true.
And the fallout offers some interesting insight into Israeli Journalism 101.
The diplomatic flare-up began on June 4, the day Obama was delivering his highly anticipated speech in Cairo.
That morning, the Israeli papers were filled with anxious stories and speculation about what Obama would say.
Among them was a piece by Ben Caspit, a leading political analyst for Maariv, one of the most popular tabloids in Israel.
"Shortly before he met Defense Minister Ehud Barak, special envoy to the Middle East George Mitchell met in New York with a prominent Jewish leader," Caspit wrote. "In the nature of things, the conversation focused on the developing confrontation between the two new administrations in Washington and in Jerusalem. 'Our policy is simple,' Mitchell said, summing up the statements in a single sentence. 'The Israelis lied to us all these years. And now it’s over.' Mitchell is supposed to arrive here soon, to open an office in Jerusalem and establish a large working team. Mitchell’s team will be a headache for [Israeli PM Benjamin] Netanyahu..."
The article was largely overlooked that day because everyone's attention was focused on Obama in Cairo.
But when Mitchell got wind of the story, he was apparently so perturbed that he called the US Embassy in Israel and dictated a categorical denial to embassy spokesman Stuart Tuttle.
"Senator Mitchell was shocked and deeply dismayed to read in Maariv that he was alleged to have said 'The Israelis lied to us all these years. It’s over,'" Tuttle said. "He has asked me to state that the quotation is totally false. It is a complete fabrication. The supposed source was a 'prominent Jewish leader' with whom Senator Mitchell met in New York last Monday. The only private meeting he had that day was with Mort Zuckerman, who is a prominent Jewish leader [and editor-in-chief of U.S. News & World Report, and publisher of the New York Daily News.]"
To bolster Mitchell's case, the US Embassy also released a statement from Zuckerman:
“The Maariv article is absolutely false. I find it outrageous. I have met and talked many times with Senator Mitchell, and he has never made such a statement or anything that could be interpreted in this way. I share his dismay and welcome the opportunity to set the record straight.”
But Caspit, co-author of a biography on Netanyahu, didn't back down.
Instead, Maariv fired back with a second story from Caspit titled: "Mitchell Denies, But Reality Proves Otherwise."
The article began by quoting a "telegram" [Telegram? Are people still using telegrams?] from the US:
“Re: Meeting of Senator Mitchell with senior Jewish figure," the article began. "On June 1, a senior Jewish figure met with Senator Mitchell, prior to his meeting with Defense Minister Ehud Barak. According to him, Mitchell said that the US was determined to reach an arrangement between Israel and the Palestinians. He says that the issue of settlements has become a problem because Israel had deceived the US with regard to their development, and ‘the days of winking are over.’ In his assessment, Israel has nothing to fear from Obama’s speech on Thursday, but as far as the settlement issue is concerned—the current administration is determined to ‘go all the way.’
"This is the precise wording of a telegram that reached the tables of decision-makers in Jerusalem last week," Caspit continued. "The telegram was sent from a large Israeli delegation in the US to numerous people in Israel. The rumor about Mitchell’s sharp statement spread quickly. The main points of the telegram were published in Maariv on Thursday.
"Yesterday, at Mitchell’s request, the US embassy in Tel Aviv issued a blanket denial of the facts reported to Jerusalem. Mitchell also recruited the 'Jewish leader' with whom he spoke that day, to join the denial. The leader joined. As if he had a choice.
"Now for the facts: Mitchell has come to Israel in an effort to ease the tension and lower the flames. This is the American interest now...
"In his eagerness to close ranks and clean the slate, Mitchell hurried to deny facts that are known to all. After all, President Obama himself, in his own voice, referred to the relations between Israel and the United States until now as lacking in honesty. Lacking in honesty is a polite way of saying 'culture of lies.'
"Now it also becomes apparent that in the talks in London, which were held about two weeks ago, Mitchell and his aides recited the exact same texts to the Israeli envoys: 'There were understandings on the settlement issue, but you deceived [us] and did not uphold them.'
"Onward: Similar statements, some even more sharply worded, were spoken in recent weeks by many other senior American officials in closed forums. Some were published, others were not. In the past week, Israeli diplomats have reported a large wave of such statements, which were recently uttered to a good many people in Washington and New York.
"The 'Jewish leader' whose testimony is the basis for the telegram in question, spoke with at least three people. All three confirm that they indeed heard the statements from him, and that he was 'shocked.' They too were shocked.
"Now, apparently, Mitchell is also shocked, after the matter found its way to the media.
It is Mitchell’s right to deny the statements. It is our obligation to bring them to the knowledge of the public. Someone in the chain of information, on the way to the telegram’s dispatch to Jerusalem, cut corners. We have a feeling that it was Mitchell. If this is how he is starting the impossible mission of making peace in the Middle East, then we have a problem."
The indignant article spends a long time obfuscating one simple fact: Caspit put words in Mitchell's mouth.
It may be, as the "telegram" suggests, that Mitchell told Zuckerman that Israel had deceived the US in the past and that those days were over. But that is not the same thing as hearing Mitchell say "the Israelis lied to us all these years."
The incident highlights a routine practice in Israeli journalism: It is common for Israeli reporters to put words in people's mouths.
"It's more than acceptable for Israeli media to do that - it's downright standard," said one journalist who worked in the Israeli media for years and asked not to be quoted by name. "I've seen reporters from Maariv, Yedioth Ahronoth, Haaretz, etc. stand outside meetings, ask exiting officials/secretaries/spokesmen/anyone they can get their hands on what went on inside and then attribute it as direct quotes."
In traditional US journalism, it's simply forbidden to do this. (See: "Are Quotes Sacred" in American Journalism Review for an in-depth examination of how much reporters can clean up quotes...)
There is often a presumption that Israeli journalists follow the same standards.
They don't.
Another Israeli journalist said that it's not acceptable to put words in a person's mouth "unless it is an adviser for a politician who gives you the permission to write the quote as a direct quote or something of that kind. Some, but not many, cautious journalists try to avoid this trap and, even when they receive a clear permission to quote the source as if they heard the words from first hand, they stay away from it."
"I don't know what happened with Ben Caspit," this reporter said, "but a serious journalist would never take the risk to quote mistakenly someone as senior as Mitchell. You need to be either a rookie or a stupid, unreliable reporter and usually one doesn't get so far without being caught."
If you see direct quotes around a person's words in an Israeli paper that doesn't mean the reporter heard the person say those words. And it doesn't mean the quote is reliable.
The Caspit-Mitchell dust-up offers a clear example of why and how this standard can lead to problems.
(AP photo/Bebeto Matthews)
Western Union sent its last telegram several years ago. Now they mostly do money transfers.
Posted by: Toe Tag | June 16, 2009 at 02:16 PM
If Israeli papers put words in the mouths of people, is that really journalism?
Posted by: borisjimski | June 17, 2009 at 01:18 AM
i think the "dust up" was caused by mentality differences between Israeli and American society. Americans take what people say very seriously. even perhaps too seriously, even when the underlying meaning is clearly not that controversial. see, for instance, the Palin - Letterman controversy. anyone in their right mind wouldn't think letterman meant to make a joke about sex with fourteen year olds - but still, all hell broke loose.
Israelis, on the other hand, dont take anything seriously, and expect everyone around them to just see things their way. so there you have it.
Posted by: hanan | June 17, 2009 at 09:34 AM