Arutz 7 (Israel National News) Fail!

כ"ג לחודש החמישי תשע"ז

Arutz 7 has been involved in in kinds of shenanigans, forcing me and other bloggers to cease citing their reports. But this fail of theirs takes the cake, forcing me to mention me to mention them here.

Last night, one side of the pedestrian walking bridge connecting B'nei B'raq and Giv'at Shmu'el was knocked down by a truck. Arutz 7's Hebrew site reported on this accurately.

 Arutz 7's English site did not.

The bridge that collapsed was not the bridge at the Giv'at Shmu'el "Coca-Cola" Junction, but rather the next bridge north. The report appears to have been fixed, at least by midnight last night.

So, the writer made a mistake. Big deal, right? We all make mistakes.

But, c’mon! All the writer had to was to look at Arutz 7’s Hebrew counterpart’s report posted 15 minutes earlier. Not sure of the exact names of the bridges? Maybe the names are different in Hebrew than in English? (By the way, they’re not.) A quick search on Google Maps or Ymaps in Hebrew would have confirmed

Since 2005, I was invited to be interviewed by Arutz 7 four times. And I am happy to say that each time I turned them down. None of these radio talk show hosts even knew who I was, except that some of them knew that I had a blog (big deal!), a blog which none of them had ever bothered to read before inviting me to be interviewed. I don’t know about you, but this sounds pretty desperate to me.

I recall the time not too long after Arutz 7’s founding, the self-sacrifices of Rebbetzin Z. Melamed, David Shapira, and others suffering raids on the station in Beth-El and worse. Such times are long since over.

Around the time of the expulsion of Jews from Azza (Gaza/Gush Qatif) and the Northern Shomron in 2005/תשס״ה, then future MK Ya’akov “Katzeleh” Katz reported threats from outside of Israel to cease donations to the Yeshiva’s foundation, due to Rabbi Z. Melamed’s canceling of Rabbi Shlomo Aviner’s class at the Yeshiva. Rabbi Aviner’s rulings on taharath hamishpahah (family purity) were under scrutiny by a Beth Din (rabbinical court) set up by Rabbi Modechai Eliyahu ztz”l, issues which today have never actually been clarified.

Tensions in Beth-El rose due to disagreements over how IDF soldiers should deal with orders to remove Jews during the impending expulsion. Should soldiers follow them? Refuse them? Pretend to be sick?

But, I digress…

As time went on, Judeo-Christian Values were being pushed by the head of the English division.

Cheerleaders for Christian “Friends of Israel” were being propped up as rock stars.

In 2010, I had the opportunity to witness just how many of the reports on their their news flash make their way to the site. News feeds are set up from other Israeli new sources in Hebrew, and they are translated. As far as I know, this is legal, and other news sites do this too. But, doesn't YNET, for example, pay a fee to the Associated Press [AP]? Just sayin'.

In all fairness to Arutz 7, according to one confidential source, close to a former head of the English division, donations, including donations from Christians, flow first through the Yeshiva’s foundation, then trickle into the Arutz 7. He also claims that what the “news” station receives is not very much.

But, who knows? Maybe Christians will feel sorry for Arutz 7 and pump some money into the station. Stranger things have happened.

And before Arutz 7 complains about this post, someone from over there should thank me for the free publicity.