Lies ex machina

Another Super Tuesday of voting, another round of Israeli front pages hampered by the fact that they were published before results were announced. But bless their hearts for trying to stay relevant in the face of the inexorable passage of time, and bless the media’s heart for putting so much stock into disproven polygraph technology that they all but tar and feather an army commander accused of rape based on its results.

How else would a paper like Yedioth Ahronoth be able to get away with a massive graphic on its front page reading “Buchris – liar, Complainant – truthful,” without the aid of lie-detector results apparently showing that Ofek Buchris fibbed when hooked up the device.

Never mind the fact that an American Psychological Association position paper on polygraphs concluded that “there is little evidence that polygraph tests can accurately detect lies,” and research has shown innocent people are flagged as guilty by the device about half the time. For the papers, the test is enough to string him up. The result is a complete reversal from just a few weeks ago, when the press met news that Buchris was under investigation with a collective “That guy? But he’s so great!”

That’s not to say the case shouldn’t be reported, or that he is necessarily innocent, and Haaretz and Israel Hayom both at least frame their reportage with the fact that it’s the complainants’ lawyer making the claim about the polygraph proving Buchris is guilty.

But no paper so much as raises the question of how much the polygraph really matters.

Least restrained is Yedioth, whose lack of nuance continues from the front page to its inside package, with a headline, “His lies, her truth,” atop a foreboding stock photo of a lie detector machine about as antiquated as the belief that it is reliable.

The paper reports that none of the results were supposed to be released at this point, but when Channel 10 erroneously reported that Buchris had emerged from the test pretty clean, the military prosecutor felt she had to correct the record.

“The prosecutor told the complainant’s lawyers that even though she hadn’t intended to reveal at this point the results of the polygraph, because of the TV report she chose to inform them now what the results were: The complainant told the truth during the test – and the suspected general has been found to be a liar,” the paper reports.

Haaretz, though, quotes Buchris’s defense attorney, who claims that the media is being taken for a ride.

“With regard to the recent series of reports, including the reports tonight of the polygraph, we would note that partial information is being released in the media, some of it distorted, tendentious or based on quotes that we have difficulty believing were quoted accurately from authorized officials. As we have repeatedly stated, we are not able at this sensitive stage to relate to the details of the investigation, without exception, so as not to harm it. Despite the difficulty, we propose that all those involved act in the same way,” he’s quoted saying.

Israel Hayom doesn’t add much to the conversation beyond quoting an army official close to the case who confirms that the military prosecutor did in fact call the complainant’s lawyer the night before.

Small hands, big coverage

Instead, the paper devotes much more space to primary voting in the US. As evidence continues to mount of Israel Hayom overlord Sheldon Adelson making peace with backing Donald Trump, the paper’s coverage of “Super Tuesday 2: Two Fast Too Tuesday,” is largely focused on the GOP front-runner, though truth be told they are far from alone, with the Donald dominating coverage across the Hebrew media landscape.

Israel Hayom’s Boaz Bismuth’s dispatch from Miami, mostly made up of man on the street interviews (including sisters named Mary and Magdalena), is heavy on praise for Trump.

“He’s not a regular politician, he’s not even a politician. He speaks without notes. He speaks from the heart, or if you like, from the gut. People love that,” the paper quotes an Israeli man living in Miami saying. “Maybe he’s crazy, maybe he’s for real, but that’s what people love here.” When asked about claims of Trump’s racism, the man gives a typical Israeli response: I know better. “Forget it, these are lies. What, you don’t now the media? When they want to they can make somebody like a king, and when they want, a devil. Trump is not a racist.”

Haaretz doesn’t go any lighter on playing the Trump card, with a full page taken up by two stories on how Trump himself is trying to play the Jew card, one by betting on Florida’s Republican Jews to give him a boost, and another on how much Trump needs pro-Israel lobby AIPAC to transform himself from potty-mouthed to presidential.

The paper’s Chemi Shalev reports that the invitation to the candidate to appear at their upcoming confab in Washington has divided AIPAC’s ranks, but for Trump, there’s no question that he should appear at the policy conference next week.

“Trump won’t be making money from this appearance, but he could nonetheless emerge with a handsome profit. The sharp-tongued, shoot-from-the-hip billionaire certainly isn’t lacking for publicity, but at AIPAC he could veer away from his image as a divisive brawler and gain a measure of the respectability that he sorely needs,” he writes. “Since the start of his astonishing campaign, Trump hasn’t appeared before a bipartisan forum that enjoys such prestige in Washington’s corridors of power. AIPAC could very well fortify the presidential image that Trump would need in order to win the general elections.”