The daily newspaper Yisrael Hayom publishes some
"scoop" on the Netanyahu family every few days.
One was about the
prime minister’s birthday party, another about his wife’s visit to the United
States Military Academy at West Point, New York, and yet another was about the
memorial service held on the second anniversary of the death of Sara
Netanyahu’s father, Shmuel Ben-Artzi. The source of all these stories, which
bear no connection to real news, is the Prime Minister’s Office, for which
Yisrael Hayom serves as a mouthpiece.
Last Friday, one of these public relations stories actually
contained a real news scoop.
According to the report, the New York Times apologized to the prime minister's wife for part of a story it had published a few days earlier.
According to the report, the New York Times apologized to the prime minister's wife for part of a story it had published a few days earlier.
In the story, which discussed the isolation the prime
minister finds himself in with regards to the Iranian issue, there was also
mention of harsh criticism voiced by the Israeli public at the way Sara
Netanyahu educates her children. Last Wednesday, in a small column devoted to
corrections, the following clarification was made:
“Because of an editing error, an article on Oct. 12 …
described incorrectly the criticisms that many Israelis have voiced about Mr.
Netanyahu’s wife, Sara. While her purported temper has been widely faulted, her
child-rearing methods have not. Ms. Netanyahu is a respected child
psychologist.”
Sources close to the prime minister leaked to Yisrael Hayom
that the New York Times bureau chief in Jerusalem, Jodi Rudoren, who had
written the article, had sent a letter of apology to Sara Netanyahu.
Netanyahu’s people also leaked excerpts from the letter implying that she was "deeply apologetic," citing "an embarrassing editorial flaw," describing the piece as "outrageous."
Netanyahu’s people also leaked excerpts from the letter implying that she was "deeply apologetic," citing "an embarrassing editorial flaw," describing the piece as "outrageous."
I asked Rudoren about the apology. She told me by email that
she had initiated the apology after realizing that an error had occurred in the
article.
“There was no pressure from PMO," she said, adding that
she had initiated the correction as soon as she learned of the error. "I
wrote Mrs. Netanyahu a letter of apology."
Rudoren declined to disclose the contents of the letter,
saying "I consider its contents to be personal, so I will not address
them. The paper's published correction speaks for itself -- there was an
editing error that led to the criticism being described improperly…”
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