Australia – THE ABC has apologised to the Australia/Israel & Jewish Affairs Council after a complaint from the public affairs organisation about the broadcaster’s coverage of Israel’s West Bank barrier.
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In a report about the controversial barrier, the ABC’s Middle East correspondent, Anne Barker, said both the International Court of Justice and Israel’s Supreme Court had ruled the wall illegal, a claim the AIJAC said was incorrect.
“While the ICC may have ruled Israel’s barrier illegal, Israel’s Supreme Court has considered it in a number of cases, and has specifically ruled that it is legal,” the AIJAC’s complaint says. “In some cases, the court has ordered that the route be changed, but never that it is illegal.”
Israel’s Supreme Court has twice instructed the country’s government to alter the proposed route of the barrier to minimise negative impacts on Palestinians.
The ABC’s Audience and Consumer Affairs’ senior liaison officer, Kieran Doyle, has apologised for what he described as a “lapse in editorial standards”.
In a letter to the AIJAC, Mr Doyle wrote that the matter had been noted on the ABC News corrections page and the issue had been raised with Barker.
AIJAC executive director Colin Rubenstein welcomed the ABC’s acknowledgement of the report’s inaccuracy.