Israpundit
March 22, 2010
The top spokesman for AIPAC says someone created a hoax version of his email address and blasted out a statement calling on Israel to stop building new settlements, which was picked up by NPR, Politico’s Laura Rozen reports.
Similarly, ABC’s Jake Tapper tweeted the bogus news this morning (see image below) before deleting the item and tweeting “Whoa— that was a hoax. AIPAC is NOT calling for a settlement freeze- someone staged a very elaborate fake email/press release. V odd.”
The statement said in part that AIPAC “strongly urges Israel to work closely and privately with the Obama administration, in a manner befitting strategic allies, to address a wide range of critical issues, including settlements, the status of East Jerusalem and the humanitarian crisis in Gaza.”
And it attributes this quote to AIPAC Executive Director Howard Kohr, who spoke this morning at the group’s annual Washington conference: “With the good faith gesture of freezing settlements, Israel can generate a new equilibrium in the Middle East that assures.”
It’s still unclear who is responsible for the fake statement. We’ve put in a call to notorious political pranksters the Yes Men but haven’t heard back yet. (See Late Update below.)
We’ve also asked AIPAC spokesman Josh Block what exactly happened, and we’ll let you know if we hear back. (It’s worth noting that AIPAC apparently does not have an official position on settlements — the topic is not among the 11 major areas on the group’s issues page.)
Meanwhile, Al Jazeera has now picked up the fake statement.
Note: After hearing the Administration condemn Israel for the past two weeks, over the Jerusalem building project, why doesn't AIPAC have an official position on "settlements"? It has already been defined, calarified, and pointed out numerous times that Jerusalem is not a "settlement"; that the United States has know before Biden's visit to Israel about plans to build in Jerusalem; .... so, Israel's plans are not a secret and therefore, the question should be answered, "Why doesn't one of the largest Jewish Organizations in America have some type of "position" on settlements? BeeSting
