A few days ago, I didn’t give this AP lead sentence a second thought:
Aided by Facebook, Israel on Friday prevented scores of pro-Palestinian activists from boarding Tel Aviv-bound flights in Europe . . .
But someone clearly did. Check out this AP clarification:
In a story July 8, The Associated Press reported that Israel’s effort to identify and stop foreign pro-Palestinian activists planning to fly to Israel was “aided by Facebook.” It should be understood that Israeli officials were aided by public posts on Facebook pages, and not by the company itself.
I can see why Palestinian sympathizers and Hamas apologists might prefer to blame fizzling flotilla/flytilla fortunes on Zionist conspiracies. It’s much easier than acknowledging the idiocy of posting their plans on the open Internet. Doh!
