CAMERA: 'Israel is not the enemy, reporters should check their facts'

There has been a sharp rise in misinformation in reporting about Israel in the international media, according to Adam Levick, director of the public diplomacy (hasbara) organization CAMERA (Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting and Analysis).

"Lately, we have seen a sharp rise in misinformation and biased reporting against Israel," Levick told Maariv, The Jerusalem Post's sister publication. 

"Journalism is important, but journalists know that they need to stick to the facts, so they have to be careful how they report," noted Levick. "When it comes to the BBC, for example, for the past 12 years, they have been publishing articles against Israel, and BBC Arabic has even celebrated Hamas's actions against us."  

He also noted that the British newspaper The Guardian is also biased against Israel.  

"Time after time, they write as if we are the bad guys."

Where does the misinformation come from?

According to him, some of the reporting come from a lack of knowledge or misunderstanding of the facts, caused by, among other things, certain op-eds being published in Israel.

Levick cited the example of an article published in The Guardian comparing Gaza to an concentration camp. He explained that when the newspaper was contacted about the article, it was said that "the information written in the article was published in an opinion column a few years ago in Haaretz by a senior reporter."

"We must be careful about how things are presented in the media," he noted. 

On the issue of whether to throw Al Jazeera reporters out of Israel, he said: "I believe in freedom of the press, yes there is a precedence for throwing the press out of the country, but I don't think it's good. We must put their words in the context of hasbara and continue to show that they are wrong."

Christina Jones, a non-Jewish woman who works for CAMERA as a campus manager, said: "My family has a deep connection with Israel, one of my brother's friends was killed at the Supernova music festival and the images and stories from the massacre are shocking." 

According to her, she has never seen such antisemitism in universities as she is right now.

"What we see right now on campuses in the US, we may soon also see in the UK and in other parts of the world. Students are afraid," she says, adding that even in Scotland, where she lives, there are serious problems.

"It is important to understand that we need to work together so that the international media reports objectively," Levick said. 

"I call on the reporters of the world: Report objectively and check your facts before publishing. This is important for Israeli public diplomacy. It is important to show that Israel is not the enemy."