The AP had claimed Blair said in an interview on BBC Radio in which he discussed dealing with the "very deep roots" of terrorism, “That meant boosting understanding between people of different religions, helping people in the Middle East see a path to democracy and easing the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians.” In fact, Blair said nothing of the sort during the interview. Blair said terrorism must be “pulled up by the roots,” and after being questioned further by the interviewer, said that meant that radical Islam must be confronted and defeated in the Middle East.
The widespread misquoting of Blair spurred angry responses from many Israeli officials, including President Moshe Katzav.
Sunday, Danielle Haas, an AP reporter, repeated the claim that Blair specifically identified the Arab-Israeli conflict as a "root cause" of last week's terror in London, writing: “Israeli officials on Sunday rejected British Prime Minister Tony Blair's contention that the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians is one of the underlying causes of terrorism, saying the London bombings were part of a wider terrorist war on Western countries. . .”
Senior PA official Saeb Erekat responded to the fraudulent quote as well, saying that Blair had "touched reality and spoke strategically of the need to deal with the problems of this region."
The Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting in America (CAMERA) sharply protested the AP’s behavior. “Nowhere in his interview yesterday did Blair mention Israel or the Palestinians,” the media watchdog wrote. “Though the AP deserves some credit for its partial correction, the fact that the misreporting occurred in the first place is a worrying symptom of the blame-Israel epidemic, which was earlier apparent in the aftermath of the 9/11 terror attacks.”
At 2 PM on July 10, the AP issued the following correction: “In a July 9 story about Prime Minister Tony Blair's comments on overcoming global terrorism, The Associated Press erroneously reported that he spoke of easing the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians. Blair did not specifically mention the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in his interview with the British Broadcasting Corp.”
The widespread misquoting of Blair spurred angry responses from many Israeli officials, including President Moshe Katzav.
Sunday, Danielle Haas, an AP reporter, repeated the claim that Blair specifically identified the Arab-Israeli conflict as a "root cause" of last week's terror in London, writing: “Israeli officials on Sunday rejected British Prime Minister Tony Blair's contention that the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians is one of the underlying causes of terrorism, saying the London bombings were part of a wider terrorist war on Western countries. . .”
Senior PA official Saeb Erekat responded to the fraudulent quote as well, saying that Blair had "touched reality and spoke strategically of the need to deal with the problems of this region."
The Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting in America (CAMERA) sharply protested the AP’s behavior. “Nowhere in his interview yesterday did Blair mention Israel or the Palestinians,” the media watchdog wrote. “Though the AP deserves some credit for its partial correction, the fact that the misreporting occurred in the first place is a worrying symptom of the blame-Israel epidemic, which was earlier apparent in the aftermath of the 9/11 terror attacks.”
At 2 PM on July 10, the AP issued the following correction: “In a July 9 story about Prime Minister Tony Blair's comments on overcoming global terrorism, The Associated Press erroneously reported that he spoke of easing the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians. Blair did not specifically mention the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in his interview with the British Broadcasting Corp.”