NEW YORK — A Cleveland Jewish newspaper editor has admitted that she misquoted and mischaracterized the comments of a leading Israeli Reform rabbi who allegedly compared Jewish Orthodox fundamentalists with Islamic terrorists.
But despite the editor’s admission, several Orthodox leaders early last week refused to apologize to Israeli Reform Rabbi Uri Regev, director of the Israel Religious Action Center, and a leading figure in the battle for religious pluralism in Israel.
The Oct. 12 article in the Cleveland Jewish News touched off a firestorm of criticism from Orthodox leaders, some of whom decried Regev’s comments as Orthodox-bashing in an ad campaign in the Jewish media sponsored by the fervently religious Agudath Israel of America.
Orthodox leaders said they were outraged by Regev’s alleged comments, which warned of the dangers of religious fundamentalism, whether by Israelis or Palestinians.
The Orthodox leaders said under no circumstances should Jewish fundamentalists be mentioned in the same breath as Muslim fundamentalists, where the post-Sept. 11 implication is that of suicide bombers and terrorists.
But Ellen Harris, city editor of the Cleveland Jewish News, now says that Regev never made that comparison. She confessed to a series of journalistic lapses in an unusual 800-word “clarification” published in her newspaper last week.
“I regret any misunderstandings that have arisen as a result of my story,” she wrote in a page 10 article headlined “Setting straight the record on covering Rabbi Regev’s remarks.”
The story had Regev comparing fervently religious Jews (or haredim in Israel) to the Islamic fundamentalist terrorists who destroyed the World Trade Center.
But Harris explained that she manufactured some quotes and failed to make clear that Regev’s statements were made during a series of interviews and not culled from one speech.
Perhaps more important, Harris explicitly addressed last month’s ad campaign sponsored by Am Echad, an affiliated group of Agudath Israel, which denounced Regev, using his quotations in her story as its basis.
“Those who have used these quotes as I originally wrote them have characterized Regev as equating either all Orthodox Jews or all haredi Jews with the terrorists who drove the planes into the World Trade Center,” she wrote. “Regev did not say that and this characterization does not reflect the tone or substance of Regev’s remarks.”
Harris said in a recent interview that Regev never compared Islamic fundamentalists with any Jews, Orthodox or otherwise.
“It was my impression that he never had any intent to compare any Jews with the Islamic terrorists, nor did he ever say that,” she said.
As a result of Harris’ clarification, Rabbi David Saperstein, director of the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism in America, last week called on the Orthodox critics to apologize to Regev.
“Since these critics republished so widely these misquotes, and harshly attacked him for them, hopefully these critics will now offer a good faith apology to Rabbi Regev,” Saperstein said.
But two Orthodox leaders have refused.
“There’s nothing to apologize for from our end,” said Rabbi Avi Shafran, director of public affairs for Agudath Israel and also American director of Am Echad.
Shafran insisted that the phrase “all Orthodox Jews,” or all haredim, implies that Regev meant that “some” haredim could be compared to Islamic terrorists, which is also completely unacceptable.
Further, Shafran said that Harris’ clarification in no way changes the intent of the anti-Orthodox comments by Regev, who he said has a history of making inciteful statements against haredim.
Shafran particularly cited a Regev quote in Harris’ original story saying that “We need to band together to fight religious zealots on both the Palestinian and Israeli sides.”
In her clarification, Harris wrote, “Rabbi Regev was talking about the presence of religious zealots and the consequences of religious zealotry among Israelis and Palestinians.” She also said that she failed to make clear that the comment was made in public to congregants, rather than during an informal gathering after a lecture on Yom Kippur.
But Shafran said the clarification makes no difference.
“Haredis are not violent or hateful…and for anyone to imply there is some equation here is beyond outrageous,” he said.
Rabbi Pesach Lerner, executive vice president of Young Israel, who called for Regev’s resignation, said he a would not apologize until he heard Regev personally say he does not believe that any haredim have the potential “to be, God forbid, suicide bombers.”
“If he says [haredi] rhetoric can turn into something as ugly and destructive as Palestinian religious fanatics, then I have a problem,” Lerner said.
Reform advocates are portraying Harris’ latest explanation as a retraction. Others are calling it an apology.
But Cleveland Jewish News editor in chief Cynthia Dettelbach rejected both and insisted it was a clarification.