Israel’s new ambassador to Belgium, David Saranga, has demanded a correction and an apology from Flemish broadcaster VTM over what he described as misleading coverage of Israel's parliamentary elections.
In an open letter sent to VTM Nieuws on Tuesday, Saranga criticised a report broadcast during Monday’s lunchtime news bulletin. He also shared a video on his social media channels, featuring an (incorrect) English translation of a VTM title card, stating that “7.5 million Palestinians do not have the right to vote.”
However, in Dutch (the langauge VTM broadcasts in), the word "stem" has different meanings; depending on context, it can mean "vote" or "voice." In this instance, the reporting made clear that the latter was meant.
However, the ambassador described the claim as misleading. He explained in the letter that approximately 2 million Arab citizens of Israel have the right to vote in Israeli elections, while around 5 million Palestinians living in Gaza and the West Bank generally do not hold Israeli citizenship and therefore cannot vote in Israeli parliamentary elections.
Saranga also questioned why the broadcaster had not mentioned that Palestinian parliamentary elections had not been held since 2006.
“A news organisation has a duty to present the facts accurately, comprehensively and in context. I fear this was not an innocent simplification,” he wrote in his letter to VTM’s editorial management.
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VTM acknowledges error
VTM Nieuws agreed to correct the information during its Tuesday evening news bulletin, acknowledging that the figure used in its original report was inaccurate.
The broadcaster stated: “We said yesterday that we wanted to know what the 7.5 million Palestinians who do not have a voice in these elections thought about it. We were referring to people without Israeli passports who live in East Jerusalem, Gaza and the West Bank. But that figure is incorrect. There are apparently fewer of them.”
Saranga officially took up his position as Israel’s envoy to Belgium on 7 October, succeeding Idit Rosenzweig-Abu.
Correction: A previous version of this story stated that VTM said 7.5 million Palestinians do not have the right to vote.
