More on Obama's secret evil plan

Though the RW blogs, and their moron readers have already decided that Obama's secret, evil plan to divide Jeruslaem is a fait accompli, people who actually are in a position to know the facts are beginning to weigh in. Here for example is Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon, as reported in the 5/21 Jerusalem Post:

"I don't know of any Obama plan that has been finalized," said Ayalon, who has been briefed on the closed-door meetings between Netanyahu and Obama. "Don't believe the headlines. What was in the papers was mere speculation, and there is no substance to it," he said.

So how did what is apparently a false story of a secret, evil Obama plan originate? The culprit seems to be Galei Tzahal which yesterday announced that Obama was set to demand the division of Jerusalem, and the removal of all West Bank settlements. The Galei Tzahel report provided no sources, and a day later their story seems about as legitimate as Carl Phillip's breathless report of an ongoing Martian invasion in War of the Worlds, the famous Orson Wells radio hoax.

Nonetheless, as Mark Twain warned, lies have a way of getting half-way around the world before the truth puts its boots on. The Galei Tzahel story was picked up by Spira at YWN, who didn't cite or credit it, and instead pretended he had first-hand knowledge of the evil, secret plan. His headline (and remember what Ayalon said about headlines) screamed "Obama Wants to Take Yerushalayim from Am Yisrael" which went far beyond even what Galei Tzahel had claimed. A much more level-headed account of the Galei Tzahel story came from Jameel. He wrote a dry report on the story without much editorializing and without any Spira-style fabulism. And though Jameel did make the error of treating the Globe's report about the Galei Tzahel report as substantiation, he has since updated his post to include Ayalon's cold water warning; nonetheless his readers are acting like Wells' audience and a blind, mad panic is underway in his comments.

Why does this happen? I suspect its because many RWers have already decided how the Obama story will end. Instead of responding to the totality of what Barak Obama actually says and does, they grab at any isolated quotes or symbolic gestures that support the narrative they have already written. The Galei Tzahel story confirmed their worst expectations, so instead of asking cool headed questions about sourcing, they sat shiva. I hope Ayalon's statement served to wipe the ashes from their foreheads.