Don’t Bank on Hamad’s Word

Hamas Spokesman Ghazi Hamad: Just because he says so doesn’t make it so
Taking Palestinian spokesman Ghazi Hamad on his word is not a wise move. The New York Times learned this lesson the hard way. On Sept. 12, the paper reported:
But Mr. Hamad points out that the charter of Israel’s conservative Likud Party calls for an Israel on both banks of the Jordan River, even as Likud governments have recognized the Oslo peace agreements of more than a decade.
The version the same day in the International Herald Tribune was:
But Hamad pointed out that the charter of Israel’s Likud party calls for an Israel on both banks of the Jordan River, even as Likud governments have recognized the Oslo agreements and a two-state solution.
The NYT and IHT ran corrections yesterday and today, respectively. The IHT correction reads:
A front-page article Sept. 12 about an announcement by the Palestinian president of an agreement to form a unity government misstated a provision of the charter of the Likud party in Israel regarding Israel’s borders. The charter defines the Jordan River as the eastern border of Israel and does not call for an Israel on both banks of the Jordan, though some early participants and leaders in the party took that position.
It wouldn’t be the first time Palestinian spokespeople provided misinformation. (See also here, here, and here.)
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