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Taybeh church: Retractions don't undo damage of false narratives
Anyone who has covered Israeli-Palestinian friction for more than five minutes knows how swiftly a bush-fire rumor can leap language barriers and ignite international outrage. This time the spark was struck last Monday, when Greek Orthodox Patriarch Theophilos III, flanked by Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa and 20 foreign diplomats, stood beside the hillside basilica and pronounced that “radical settlers” had tried to torch it. A few well-placed cameras, a practiced tone of moral indignation, and a ready-made villain were all the global media needed. Within hours, wire services were selling the image of Israeli arsonists gleefully burning down an ancient church.
Four days later, former Arkansas governor turned US Ambassador Mike Huckabee arrived to survey the “crime scene.” He labeled the incident “an act of terror” that warranted “harsh consequences.” His remarks rocketed across American cable shows before viewers could finish their breakfast cereal. By the time the weekend rolled around, the story was no longer a claim; it was the truth.
There was, of course, one small problem: Limestone doesn’t burn. A fact-checking team from The Press Service of Israel (TPS-IL) slowed down the Taybeh Municipality’s own video and noticed something that every headline writer missed. The supposed arsonists, teenage farmhands from the adjacent Jewish ranch, were running toward the flames with reflective vests and a compressed-air blower, the sort of equipment firefighters use to smother shrub fires. One of them, a 16-year-old shepherd identified only as Y., told the TPS-IL that he had phoned the farm for help, stripped off his shirt to beat back the flames, and was promptly rewarded with a hail of stones from villagers emerging from the cemetery. The farm’s owner had already lodged police complaints about pastureland fires on July 7, 8, and 11, dates that precisely match the “arson attempts” cited by church officials.
--snip--
Possibly embarrassed, Huckabee has since clarified on X/Twitter that he did not assign blame and merely condemned whoever set the fire, “whoever they may be.” It is a gentle about-face, but the damage is done. The correction will zip around the world at a fraction of the original speed, and many newsrooms will bury it in their overnight updates, if they report it at all.
https://www.jpost.com/opinion/article-861878
Four days later, former Arkansas governor turned US Ambassador Mike Huckabee arrived to survey the “crime scene.” He labeled the incident “an act of terror” that warranted “harsh consequences.” His remarks rocketed across American cable shows before viewers could finish their breakfast cereal. By the time the weekend rolled around, the story was no longer a claim; it was the truth.
There was, of course, one small problem: Limestone doesn’t burn. A fact-checking team from The Press Service of Israel (TPS-IL) slowed down the Taybeh Municipality’s own video and noticed something that every headline writer missed. The supposed arsonists, teenage farmhands from the adjacent Jewish ranch, were running toward the flames with reflective vests and a compressed-air blower, the sort of equipment firefighters use to smother shrub fires. One of them, a 16-year-old shepherd identified only as Y., told the TPS-IL that he had phoned the farm for help, stripped off his shirt to beat back the flames, and was promptly rewarded with a hail of stones from villagers emerging from the cemetery. The farm’s owner had already lodged police complaints about pastureland fires on July 7, 8, and 11, dates that precisely match the “arson attempts” cited by church officials.
--snip--
Possibly embarrassed, Huckabee has since clarified on X/Twitter that he did not assign blame and merely condemned whoever set the fire, “whoever they may be.” It is a gentle about-face, but the damage is done. The correction will zip around the world at a fraction of the original speed, and many newsrooms will bury it in their overnight updates, if they report it at all.
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