性、謊言和中國工人
12月23日，美聯社刊登了一篇匿名報道，題為《以色列公司要求中國工人不要與以色列人發生性關係》。該文章寫道：
警方發言人週二稱，一家以色列公司要求數千名中國工人簽署合同，承諾不與以色列人發生性關係或試圖改變他們的宗教信仰。
文章沒有透露這家以色列公司的名字，但引用了「發言人拉菲·亞菲」作為消息來源，聲稱亞菲表示「這項要求並不違法」。明顯的暗示是，以色列正在批准紐倫堡式的性別隔離法，這讓人想起了納粹德國對猶太人實施的法律。
但這種暗示是錯誤的。事實上，亞菲是以色列移民局的發言人，據他介紹，所謂的合約並不是以色列公司提出的要求，而顯然是在中國達成的協議。
當 CAMERA 向亞菲先生核實美聯社的斷言時，他講述了一個關於這份神秘合約的完全不同的故事。根據 Yaffe 的說法：
1）大約一年半前，移民局聽說了一份類似的合同，它起源於國外，中國。這份「合約」可能更像是中國工人前往以色列前必須簽署的一系列指南。
2）該合約協議簽訂中國，而非以色列，因此不屬於以色列警方的管轄範圍。
美聯社的報告轉述了亞菲的話：“這項要求並不違法，也沒有針對該公司展開調查”，理由是以色列在此事中沒有任何作用或管轄權。
新聞業就像任何行業一樣，難免會出錯。問題在於錯誤能被多麼徹底、多麼迅速地糾正。儘管美聯社的報道於 12 月 23 日就已發布，並被全球媒體報道，儘管 CAMERA 於 12 月 30 日與通訊社取得聯繫，提醒編輯們注意這一問題並提供了詳細的反駁信息，但至今仍未得到任何更正。
Sex, Lies and Chinese Workers
On Dec. 23, the Associated Press filed an anonymous story entitled “Israeli company asks Chinese workers not to have sex with Israelis.” The piece claimed:
An Israeli company has required thousands of Chinese workers to sign a contract promising not to have sex with Israelis or try to convert them, a police spokesman said Tuesday.
The article does not name the Israeli company, but cites “spokesperson Rafi Yaffe” as the source, claiming that Yaffe said “there was nothing illegal about the requirement.” The clear implication is that Israel is sanctioning Nuremburg-type sexual segregation laws reminiscent of those imposed on Jews in Nazi Germany.
The implication, however, is wrong. In fact, Yaffe is a spokesman for the Israeli Emigration Authority, and the alleged contract was, according to him, not a requirement imposed by an Israeli company, but apparently an agreement made in China.
When CAMERA checked with Mr. Yaffe about the AP assertions, he recounted quite a different story about the mysterious contract. According to Yaffe:
1) About a year and a half ago, the Emigration Authority heard of a contract like this that originated abroad, in China. The “contract” may have been more like a series of guidelines Chinese workers were made to sign before embarking for Israel.
2) This contractual agreement took place in China, not in Israel, and thus did not fall under the jurisdiction of the Israeli police.
While the AP report paraphrased Yaffe as saying: “there was nothing illegal about the requirement and no investigation had been opened against the company,” the reason was that Israel had no role or jurisdiction in the matter.
In journalism, as in any line of endeavor, mistakes can occur. The question is how fully and promptly the error is corrected. Although AP’s story was distributed on Dec. 23 and picked up by media outlets around the globe, and although CAMERA was in contact with the wire service on Dec. 30 to alert editors to the problem and provide detailed rebuttal information, no correction has yet been forthcoming.
