Wall Street Journal

The Wall Street Journal may need their reporters to brush up on their Bible literacy.

On Wednesday the paper was forced to issue an embarrassing correction, over a story that misquoted Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and in the process flubbed an iconic Old Testament moment.

“An earlier version of his article incorrectly started that Benjamin Netanyahu said Moses brought water from Iraq. He said the water was brought from a rock,” the paper noted in their “Corrections & Applications.”

Also Read: NY Times Issues Correction for Trump-Slamming Climate Change Report

Important correction from @WSJ "An earlier version of this article incorrectly stated that Benjamin Netanyahu said Moses brought water from Iraq. He said the water was brought from a rock." (via @WritesRights) https://t.co/LP4zqDw45n pic.twitter.com/InwjcvHHo7

— Stefan Simanowitz (@StefSimanowitz) March 28, 2018

The actual WSJ piece, “Sheldon Adelson Facilitated EPA Connection for Israeli Firm,” was a pretty dry affair, which focused on how the casino magnate arranged meetings between Israeli companies and the U.S. government.

The actual moment quoting Netanyahi reads as follows:

Professor Dershowitz reportedly demonstrated Water-Gen’s technology on stage at the American Israel Public Affairs Committee in Washington last year. And the company’s website touts Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu bragging about the technology at the same event this year. It “improves on Moses,” Mr. Netanyahu said in video posted by the company. “He brought water from a rock. They bring water from thin air.”

The famous story of Moses striking the rock precipitating a flow of water can be found in the book of Numbers in the Jewish Old Testament. There was no Iraq to speak of during the time of Moses.

The article, bylined by Timothy Puko, also took contributions from WSJ writers Julie Bykowicz and Louise Radnofsky and must also have passed some unnamed editor suggesting that at least four people looked at the piece without noticing the mistake.

9 Times New York Times Editorial Made Everyone Freak Out

Bari Weiss: We're All Fascists Now

The New York Times opinion editor set the Internet ablaze after going after college students who she said were trying to shut down free speech. Critics pointed to Weiss mistakenly linking two fake ANTIFA Twitter accounts
MSNBC
David Brooks: 'Girl I Want Your Body'

New York Times Op-Ed columnist David Brooks offered his spin on the MeToo movement in November. But his attempt to speak the language of sex and passion led him to write some lines like "girl I want your body" and "sex is a gold nugget" and the Internet went nuts.
Getty
Bret Stephens' "A Defense, of Sorts, for Harvey Weinstein"

The October, 2017 piece was actually titled "Weinstein and Our Culture of Enablers," but Stephens couldn't resist throwing in the trollish alternative headline see above into a tweeted description of the article -- which promptly precipitated an Internet meltdown
YouTube
David Brooks Urges "Respect to Gun Owners" After Parkland, Florida Massacre

David Brooks set passions aflame after urging "respect" for gun owners after 17 children were killed at a school shooting in Parkland, Florida. "So if you want to stop school shootings it's not enough just to vent and march. It's necessary to let people from Red America lead the way, and to show respect to gun owners at all points," he wrote.
Getty
Quinn "Been Friends with Various Neo-Nazis" Norton

The New York Times got more than they bargained for when they hired tech writer Quinn Norton. Almost immediately after the news was announced old tweets began to emerge including where Norton said she had "been friends with various neo-nazis" and used the N word. The Times cut her loose just hours after she was hired.
YouTube
Bari Weiss Attacks Aziz Ansari Accuser: 'I'll Get Crushed for This'

Weiss risked more wrath on the set of "Morning Joe" in January after blasting a woman who accused comedian Aziz Ansari of sexual misconduct. "It's called bad sex," she told Joe and Mika. "I'll get crushed for saying this."
TheWrap
Bari Weiss Quotes Hamilton: 'Immigrants: We Get the Job Done"

Anti-Weiss Internet mobs were set ablaze after she tweeted out "Immigrants: we get the job done," in response to Olympian Mirai Nagasu's triple axel. Nagasu was born in California to immigrant parents and Twitter furiously dragged her for not paying sufficient deference to the decision.
Getty
James Bennet Diversifies the Times Opinion Pages

Editorial Page Editor James Bennet has said his mission is to broaden editorial diversity on the Times newsroom. The initiative has often been rocky and the paper has been beset by online criticism of hiring choices, and targeted leaks by Times employees unhappy with his changes.
YouTube
David Brooks Sandwich-Shames Less Educated Friend

Perhaps most egregious of all in the mind of Internet warriors was Brooks' confession in a July, 2017 column that he once took a friend "with only a high school degree" into a gourmet sandwich shop but decided to pull a quick switch for Mexican food after, so he said, she appeared overwhelmed by words like Soppressata and Capicollo.
Creative Commons

1 of 9

Most of the recent fire and fury comes from the paper’s editorial pages

Bari Weiss: We're All Fascists Now

The New York Times opinion editor set the Internet ablaze after going after college students who she said were trying to shut down free speech. Critics pointed to Weiss mistakenly linking two fake ANTIFA Twitter accounts

View In Gallery