Belgian newspaper accused of deligitimizing Israel by not mentioning the country on Mideast map
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![]() The European Jewish Press By EJP In a statement issued on Tuesday, the CCOJB, the umbrella body representing Jewish organizations in Belgium, regretted "that once again newspaper Le Soir delights in the delegitimization of the State of Israel by publishing, during two consecutive days, a map of the Middle East, which simply ignores the existence of the State of Israel." "In addition, the words ‘Palestinian Authority’ were included in the place of Israel, which is also untrue and denies the duality existing between Gaza and the West Bank," the statement added. "The CCOJB condemns this double breach of truth and rigorous information." Reacting to the accusation, the paper’s chief editor Didier Hamman admitted that "this is undoubtedly a mistake, I plead guilty and apologize." But he also said he was "shocked and insulted" by the accusation from CCOJB that the newspaper did it intentionally. "I am outraged and I informed CCOJB chairman, Mr. Sosnowski. It is unworthy of his organization to imagine that this error has been committed intentionally," Hamann said. He spoke of a “simple mistake" that occurred during two days without anyone at the newspaper noticing it. The map will be corrected for the rest of the series of articles, the chief editor added. |