As the owner of tickets for next month’s Rolling Stones concert in Tel Aviv, I’m very much looking forward to seeing Mick Jagger and the rest of the legendary rock band defying both their age and the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) campaign.
It’s not surprising that Israel advocates are trumpeting the Stones concert as an epic BDS fail, leading to this quote and related images spreading like wildfire through the pro-Israel community on social media.
Unfortunately the quote isn’t true.
In what was a remarkably prophetic spoof article, The Jewish Press included the above quote in its joke story for Purim back in February 2013.
Israel is perpetually on the receiving end of false or doctored anti-Israel quotes attributed to everyone from Nelson Mandela to David Ben-Gurion. While the spreading of this false Mick Jagger quote is in no way comparable to the malevolent intentions of anti-Israel activists, it is nonetheless prudent to stop this from spreading any further.
This latest example is a testament to just how easy it is to turn fake news into conventional wisdom online.
While Mick Jagger’s quote may not be the genuine article, hopefully we can look forward to some real words of support when the Rolling Stones touch down in Israel on June 4.
