Chief Rabbi Yisrael Meir Lau sharply attacked the media last night for \"driving a wedge\" between the religious and secular sectors with a \"viciously untrue\" story. The media had reported throughout yesterday - when the observant do not listen to radio or watch TV - that the religious burial societies had refused to bury the three non-Jewish victims of Friday night\'s terrorist attack. However, by last night it had become clear that there was no truth to the story, and in fact non-Jews who request are buried in special sections of the Jewish cemeteries. IMRA notes that Ha\'aretz reported the correct version of the story in its Hebrew print and internet editions last night - as opposed to the English versions. \"The information that the story was not correct was available at 9:00 PM last night,\" wrote Dr. Aaron Lerner of IMRA this morning. \"It remains unclear why Ha\'aretz opted to distribute the viciously incorrect story in its printed English edition. It should also be noted that as of 8:00 AM - 11 hours later - Ha\'aretz\'s website [had] no correction of the vicious story.\"



Israel Radio\'s Matti Golan reported that the false story originated with Labor MK Sopha Landver, who represents the new-immigrant sector in her party. \"She appeared all over the media yesterday,\" Golan said, \"but now, when the story has been shown to be untrue, she refuses to be interviewed, and suffices with a written explanation that she heard the story from a social worker...\" Shinui leader MK Tommy Lapid, who also was quick to condemn the story yesterday, refused to retract, saying today, \"The problem is that the victims lived and died together, but were buried separately.\"