Shaggy Dog Story of Mea Shearim

It didn't seem possible, but there it was (and still is) on YNet News: "A Jerusalem rabbinical court recently sentenced a wandering dog to death by stoning." By way of explanation the YNet article continues: "The cruel sentence stemmed from the suspicion that the hound was the reincarnation of a famous secular lawyer, who insulted the court's judges 20 years ago." The story made the top headlines of Yahoo (where I saw it yesterday) and Google News, and was carried by Time, BBC and AFP.  At BBC, "Death sentence for Israeli dog" was the most viewed online story for June 20. And it is entirely untrue.

An apology was printed by Ma'Ariv, the Hebrew language Israeli newspaper that originated the story. The world press likely got the story from the English language, YNet.   Apparently, "the only accurate detail was that a dog running loose in a court building caused something of a commotion." The Ma'Ariv apology included a statement from the Chief Justice of the Court, Rabbi Yehoshua Levin, explaining that the story was a complete fabrication. "There is no basis for the abuse of an animal, either from Halacha (Jewish law) or by common sense."

The news reviewers at Honest Reporting speculate that Ma'Ariv's invention "could be chalked down to internal issues between secular and ultra Orthodox sectors of the population." And they add this comment on the special responsibilities of the Israeli press:

Indeed, the Israeli press like any free media in the developed world is more than capable of tabloid-style journalism, displaying political bias and making mistakes. The Israeli press, however, has a responsibility beyond that to its own domestic audience.

If something this wild appears in an Israeli paper, you really can't fault world media for running the story--though the assumption that the story needs no further investigation is a problem. You can certainly fault the press if they don't follow up with a well-placed "it was a hoax" story.

Unfortunately, these never get the kind of coverage that the hoax generates. Time has issued an "update" today that does state: "The court denies the sentence was ever handed down" with a link to a more complete denial story by the Jewish Chronicle Online.

But to find the "Update," you first have to get to the bottom of the original story, headlined "Shocking Sentence: Jewish Court Condemns Dog to Death by Stoning" complete with a photo of a mournful looking dog, captioned: "A dog walks on the Israeli side of the Gaza Strip. [from Mea Shearim to Gaza?] In traditional Judaism, dogs are considered impure." The caption could use an "Update," too.