Ynet's Fake News: Against Dialogue, Supporting Abortions and Defamation

It's no secret that the media is far from being perceived as reliable. Everyone can see and read how public trust in the media is plummeting. But that doesn't stop prominent figures in the media from further sacrificing the little trust they have left, on the altar of superficiality, cynicism, and hatred towards anything that smells of Judaism. Typically, if a juicy story comes to their hands whose source is unreliable, inconsistent, unsupported, and changes versions every minute and a half - any journalist with basic integrity would pass on it or at least present it with reservations, or at least try to find out the truth. But if ynet has the opportunity to bash a Jewish outreach organization that, heaven forfend, even opposes a woman's right to take the life of the fetus in her womb – then why not join the "enlightened" herd?

Watch Dana Veron shake up the network with her opinion piece: on Fake News, ynet, and encouraging abortions:

A Pregnant Young Woman Thrown Out to the Street?Come Hear the Truth

But that's not where it ended. It continued on ynet, in a remarkably biased and cynical interview, where the ynet studio hosts sat and got shocked over a complex young woman, who supposedly was thrown out by the AMA Department (the department for preventing abortions at Hidabroot) from an apartment she got for free after she was convinced not to abort. The young woman initially admitted that she initiated the appeal and request for help, but the hosts elegantly ignored this as if they hadn't heard it and continued to treat the case as if Hidabroot was the one "chasing" after the young woman, bribing her not to do the legitimate and seemingly desired thing in their eyes – the murder of the fetus in her womb.

Even the headline itself is absurd: "They tempted a young woman not to abort - and threw her out of the apartment in the seventh month." Firstly, the use of "tempted" is distorted in itself. Is convincing someone not to murder her fetus (a healthy one, by the way. It's not like it had, heaven forbid, 4 fingers, which in some twisted opinions justifies abortion) – a temptation? Who benefits from this, the mother herself (who now emphasizes she will not give up the baby under any circumstances, and it's clear she's attached to him) or Hidabroot? Usually, the term temptation is used when the one offering the temptation has a clear interest to entrap the "victim" ultimately, but what is the trap exactly? Bringing life into the world, rather than causing herself medical and psychological harm that will accompany her for decades?

From deep acquaintance and investigation of the case, this is a completely false story. The girl herself reached out online and asked for help. At no point did she want an abortion; she merely sought assistance with housing, finding a job – and also financial help. This happened after the same girl left every previous apartment – from parents to friends – and found herself alone. Facing all this loneliness, the only lifeline sent to her came from Hidabroot. She lived in an apartment with a roommate and didn't get along with her at all. For reasons of privacy, I will not detail why, but there was another issue in handling her situation with Kalina, the director of the AMA department. Kalina repeatedly asked her to provide water, electricity, and municipal tax invoices so that the department could pay the bills. Additionally, Kalina wanted to meet with her to continue helping, ensure everything was fine, and also to give her living expenses money. The girl refused and said, "If this is not suitable for you – I will move my things out of the apartment." Does this sound like a problematic pattern to you? Probably the same for the journalists who interviewed her with constant eye-rolling, but why address it if they can ignore it and direct all arrows at Hidabroot – an organization making revolutions and strengthening the Jewish people more than any other body nowadays?

And while we are on the topic of journalism, Hidabroot has all the relevant correspondence, proving the facts. But the media – from ynet to Galatz – didn't even request to receive these correspondences, lest the story collapses, and the heart-wrenching tale about the girl thrown out of the apartment by a religious organization that "tempted" her – loses its relevance.

Bottom line, at no point was that young woman asked to leave the apartment. Until today, Hidabroot invites her to return to the apartment, but she chose instead to refuse and use the media, riding on Hidabroot's back, to get an apartment from Amidar, as could clearly be understood from her words.

Hidabroot Bothers Extremists on Both Sides

Various factors are trying to disrupt Hidabroot's activities at this time. From the secular side, we disturb many for our actions against assimilation, for strengthening Jewish identity, for strengthening faith, and so on. Due to the vast scope of work in various departments, and also because of the success in the field, in digital, and everywhere possible – we provide "material" for any body opposed to our values.

On the other side, a marginal, radical ultra-Orthodox guerrilla, that doesn't represent the Orthodox public as a whole, fights against other things widely accepted in the Orthodox world. They haven't even achieved 1% of what Hidabroot has, but that doesn't stop them from running between rabbis, lying to them, and trying to get them to sign opposition letters to this amazing activity. They oppose our continued work of marrying thousands of couples through the "Sheva Brachot" site (completely free); they have a problem with the largest newsletter in the world, which is distributed in almost 200,000 copies every Shabbat; they don't understand why there is a need for a Jewish website with 3 million visits (apparently they prefer we strengthen secular Jews through flyers or postcards with stamps), and generally, they have an issue with the moderate, pragmatic and mainly sane approach to outreach. They prefer threats about hell, Gog and Magog, and boiling lava, or alternatively believe Jews can be brought closer with angry faces and content that seems like Chinese at this point in their lives. That's what happens when instead of trying to fix – one tries to destroy with a distorted extreme view, without understanding the consequences. Without offering an alternative. The main thing is to destroy.

fake news

And of course, there is also a silver lining in all this mess: in the end, all the extremists on both sides are nothing more than a storm in a teacup. The regular audience of Hidabroot knows the organization, sees the tremendous activity in the field, and continues to support the organization's work. The last time an investigative report was published by "Yedioth Ahronoth" and ynet on the AMA department, we launched a crowdfunding campaign in order to help save even more babies, and indeed we succeeded – thank you, Noni Mozes – in saving hundreds more babies. Generally, our numbers always rise, and it turns out, all this only shows the Israeli public how much we are on the map. Even the extremists from the other side strengthen us, and since they started their protests against the Hidabroot newsletter (for example), we increased from 100,000 copies per week to 200,000 copies. So keep going, it only strengthens us.

Just try, at the end of each day, to stand in front of the mirror and look yourself in the eyes. If you try hard, but only if you really try hard – you will see in your pupils all the blood you have shed. Good luck.