Who Knows How to Correct The Jerusalem Post?
On Friday, an article in a Middle Eastern media outlet falsely claimed that a Saudi prince launched an unprecedented peace-making initiative vis-à-vis Israel including plans for a groundbreaking visit to the Jewish state.
The article had stated:
“In an unprecedented overture, Saudi Arabian prince and wealthy media tycoon Talal Bin Waleed announced Thursday that he is planning a seven-day-trip to the Jewish State and urged all the Arab nations in the region to “strive for a more peaceful, prosperous and homogenous Middle East,” according to Saudi Arabian news media.”
“All my Muslim brothers and sisters must understand that it became a moral imperative for all inhabitants of war-torn Middle-East, namely Arabs, to desist their absurd hostility toward Jewish people,” Okaz reported the prince saying, an Arabic-language Saudi news agency.”
“My sovereign, King Salman has instructed me to open a direct dialogue with Israel’s intellectual (community), building amicable ties with our Israeli neighbors,” Bin Waleed added.”
“The Saudi prince said that he plans to pray at the Al-Aksa mosque located on top of the Temple Mount when he visits Jerusalem’s old city, the holiest site in Judaism and the third holiest site in Islam.”
When editors learned this was a hoax, did they publish a retraction ? No. Instead, without notifying readers of any change, editors replaced the original article with a different article headlined: “False online rumors suggest Saudi prince to visit Israel.”
The replacement article began:
“In an apparent hoax, unsubstantiated reports claimed Thursday that Saudi Arabian prince and wealthy media tycoon Talal Bin Waleed was planning a seven-day-trip to the Jewish State.”
At no point did the media outlet in question acknowledge that it itself was one of the purveyors of the hoax. Furthermore, within a few hours, editors today ultimately pulled that article as well, so that those who return to that url receive an error message..
The Jerusalem Post stealthly changed to its article, not acknowledging that The Post itself has published the bogus story about the Saudi prince as fact:
As of this writing, Post editors pulled that story as well, and readers who look up the url in question get the following:
