LOST IN TRANSLATION

A MAN was wrongfully arrested by Israeli police after Facebook’s automatic translation tool misinterpreted his innocent “good morning” post as something more sinister.

Halawin Halawi, a Palestinian worker in the Beitar Illit settlement in West Bank near Jersusalem, posted a photo of himself to Facebook smiling and leaning against a bulldozer, while holding a coffee and a cigarette.

Along with the photo he wrote “good morning” in Arabic but Israeli authorities, relying on the social media’s translation service, believed it to say “attack them” in Hebrew and “hurt them” in English.

Israeli police arrested Mr Halawi on suspicion of incitement, without having an Arabic speaking officer read the post prior to the arrest.

It was later explained that the English translation used by Facebook isn’t even an actual word in Arabic and any Arabic speaker would be able to spot the mistake.