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AP Claims New IDF Chief of Staff Is a "Settler"
(CAMERA) Tamar Sternthal - On Oct. 24, AP headlined a story "Settlers Rise in Israel," about the newly appointed IDF Chief of Staff Maj.-Gen. Herzi Halevi. He lives in Kfar HaOranim, a community just across the armistice line that separated the Jordanian-occupied West Bank from Israel between 1948 and 1967. Under every peace plan, this community was always slated to be included in Israeli territory. Moreover, according to the official voting record of Kfar HaOranim, his fellow residents are overwhelmingly aligned with the political bloc that does not represent the settlement movement. In the March 2021 elections, Prime Minister Yair Lapid's centrist Yesh Atid party captured the most votes (30.8%); Defense Minister Benny Gantz's center Blue & White party snagged 18.2%; and left-wing Labor took 13.4%. In fourth place, former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's Likud garnered 12.1%. The pro-settlement Religious Zionist party received no votes. Yet AP's fictional account cast Halevi as a settler bogeyman. The writer is director of CAMERA's Israel Office.