FC: Israeli ambassador falls for blog "Zionist occupation" parody

[Declan McCullagh <declan () well com>]

The parody:
http://littlegreenfootballs.com/weblog/?entry=5305

Anyone remember Pierre Salinger?
http://www.cnet.com/techtrends/0-6014-7-1427924.html

---

http://www.opinionjournal.com/best/?id=110002948

BY JAMES TARANTO
Wednesday, January 22, 2003 2:52 p.m. EST

Charles Johnson's excellent Little Green Footballs blog published a parody 
last week, a story from "Al-Jee'ef" that "reported" on an Arab League 
statement denouncing the " 'illegal Zionist occupation' of Earth orbit." 
(The joke referred to a real news story, on Israeli astronaut Ilan Ramon, 
now aboard the space shuttle Columbia.) There was no such Arab League 
statement, but Ha'aretz, the newspaper sometimes called the New York Times 
of Israel, published a headline on its Web site: "Arab League condemns NASA 
inclusion of Israeli astronaut as 'first step in illegal Zionist occupation 
of space.' (News Agencies)"

Today LGF notes that an article by Israel's ambassador to France, which 
appears in the French-language Guysen Israel News, also cites the parody as 
if it were on the level.

We almost can't blame the Israelis for falling for this; after all, such a 
statement by the Arab League would be no more insane than typical Arab 
politics. The Jerusalem Post reports that Yasser Arafat's Palestinian 
Authority has named a soccer tournament after Abdel Baset Odeh, the Hamas 
terrorist who murdered 30 Jews in last year's Passover massacre.

Arafat won a Nobel Peace Prize in 1994.

It's a good thing the Arabs don't play real football, or this Sunday we 
might be watching the Raiders- Martyrs Super Bowl. 




-------------------------------------------------------------------------
POLITECH -- Declan McCullagh's politics and technology mailing list
You may redistribute this message freely if you include this notice.
To subscribe to Politech: http://www.politechbot.com/info/subscribe.html
This message is archived at http://www.politechbot.com/
Declan McCullagh's photographs are at http://www.mccullagh.org/
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Like Politech? Make a donation here: http://www.politechbot.com/donate/
Recent CNET News.com articles: http://news.search.com/search?q=declan
-------------------------------------------------------------------------