Misinformation or mistake?

Herb Keinon’s article in the Jerusalem Post, briefly describes the case of Khulood Badawi, an information and media coordinator for the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA). Israel’s Ambassador to the UN, Ron Prosor, in a letter to Valerie Amos, the undersecretary-general for humanitarian affairs, has called for Badawi’s dismissal.  Badawi had posted a link to a picture purporting to show a dead Palestinian child killed by an IDF strike during a recent four-day flare up of hostilities between terrorists in Gaza and Israeli forces. Ms. Badawi had also tweeted of the picture: “Palestine is bleeding. Another child killed by #Israel…Another father carrying his child to a Grave in #Gaza.”

Part of graphic photo sent by Badawi        

The disturbing photo was later discovered to have been actually published in 2006 by Reuters, and the child’s death had been due to an accident and was completely unrelated to recent events. Prosor stated that not only was Badawi guilty of spreading misinformation, but that her actions “violated conduct expected of a UN official”. In addition that she had “actively engaged in the demonization of Israel, a member state of the United Nations”.

Khulood Badawi

The article went on to say that the Israeli Foreign ministry had had previous issues with the OCHA, which they felt was “badly one-sided”. There was no comment from OCHA except a spokeswoman’s statement that she was not authorized to comment on the situation, and that she was unaware of Prosor’s call for Badawi’s firing.

The author of this piece, Herb Keinon, is the diplomatic correspondent at the Jerusalem Post and has held that post for twelve years, while writing for the Jerusalem Post for twenty-seven years. While originally from Denver and a graduate of American Universities, Keinon has lived in Israel for the past thirty years and it is reasonable to assume that his writing would have a pro-Israeli outlook. The fact that the link to the photo and the tweet regarding it can easily be verified thorough other sources lends credibility to the article which mainly quotes known and verifiable sources and refrains from statements of opinion from its author.

While the picture and the tweet were sent from Badawi’s personal twitter account and a blog on her Facebook page , this fact is not addressed in the article. It is possible to misconstrue that Ms. Badawi sent the information out in some sort of official UN capacity, which was not the case.   In a later article from Arutz Sheva, it was reported that in a reply to Posor issued by Undersecretary Amos, she stated “It is regrettable that an OCHA staff member has posted information on her personal Twitter profile, which is both false and which reflects on issues that are related to her work.  The opinions expressed in her tweets in no way reflect the views of OCHA, nor has it been sanctioned by OCHA.”  As of that date, the article also stated that Badawi had “neither retracted nor apologized for her inaccurate tweet”.

Social Media Plays Pivotal Role

The original Jerusalem Post article, aside from publicizing an instance of “fauxtagraphy” and misinformation, also indirectly raises the question of the place of social media in today’s society and the political ramifications that can arise from the expression of one’s personal opinion.  While Ms. Badawi’s Tweet and blog are separate from her position at the UN, where she is to behave as an impartial representative, the real story may be is it really possible to separate the two parts of a person’s life?  In an Associated Press article regarding this story, it is stated that Badawi sent the photo to her 2,250 Twitter followers. It was then reposted 450 times. While it is known that Khulood Badawi is sympathetic to the Palestinian cause, and it can be assumed that her Twitter followers are as well,  the fact that the photo was reposted 450 times giving a false image to events must be addressed.  As Prosor says in his letter such actions “contribute to incitement, conflict and, ultimately, violence.”  The fact that Badawi’s position at the UN is that of an information and media coordinator makes her use of a six year old photo in the completely wrong context even more troublesome and her motives questionable.