A view of the Israeli community of Ma’ale Adumim in the West Bank. Photo: Reuters/Ammar Awad

Why does it seem that journalists can only view Israel through the prism of the Arab-Israeli conflict?

Case in point: In an otherwise well-written story about the Jewish state’s food tech industry, TIME Magazine senior climate correspondent Aryn Baker felt compelled to connect Israel’s innovative spirit to the Palestinian issue.

Israel’s poultry and dairy industries supply more than 90% of domestic demand, yet they rely on imported grain that must come in overseas—the borders with Lebanon and Syria are closed by ongoing conflict, and trade with neighbors Jordan and Egypt is nearly non-existent due to political tensions over its illegal annexation of Palestinian territories in the West Bank.

There’s just one problem: Israel never moved to “annex” Palestinian-claimed territory in the West Bank.

Following the Six-Day War in 1967 — a defensive conflict that was fought in response to Arab nations threatening Israel’s very existence — Israel found itself in control of large swaths of land previously held by, amongst others, Jordan and Syria.

But Jerusalem refrained from extending sovereignty to the West Bank, which Amman had occupied for 19 years.

Instead, the Knesset passed the Judea and Samaria Emergency Regulations, which applied Israeli extraterritorial jurisdiction to Israeli citizens in the area while keeping pre-1967 laws in place. To this day, the contested territory is governed by a mishmash of Ottoman, British Mandate, and Jordanian laws, as well as Israeli military directives.

A proposal by then-prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu to apply Israeli civil law to the Jordan Valley and Jewish communities in the West Bank was shelved in 2020, following the signing of the Abraham Accords with the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain. However, international legal experts disagree on whether Netanyahu’s plan would’ve amounted to unlawful “annexation” at all, as the West Bank is not the lawful territory of any other state, nor has it been since Israel’s independence in 1948.

The claim that Israeli “trade with neighbors Jordan and Egypt is nearly non-existent” is likewise disingenuous. In fact, the past two years witnessed increased economic cooperation between Jerusalem, Amman, and Cairo — even as Palestinian-Israeli tensions intensified.

In 2021, the economy ministers of Israel and Jordan met for the first time in a decade, and the countries have since announced their intention to open a joint Israeli-Jordanian industrial and employment zone. Meanwhile, some six months ago, the Israeli Economy and Industry Ministry declared that Israel and Egypt hope to reach $700 million in annual bilateral trade in the next three years.

Within hours of TIME’s publication of “How Israel Became the Global Center For Alternative Meat Tech,” we tagged the magazine in a tweet pointing out the two inaccuracies. In addition, we contacted the outlet directly by email. As of this writing, we have yet to receive a response.

Reality check, @TIME. The West Bank’s status is *disputed* pending final status negotiations and Israel never “annexed” Palestinian-claimed territories. A plan to that effect was shelved in 2020.

Meanwhile, export to Israel from Jordan & Egypt amounted to $320.2 million in 2020. pic.twitter.com/vpBuIKEGTB

— HonestReporting (@HonestReporting) December 1, 2022