Newsrooms retract fake Netanyahu report

The group blog Boing Boing and Al-Masdar News both reported that the Chairman of the Israeli Labor Party, Isaac Herzog, claimed recently that Netanyahu had taken Saudi Arabian money.

A few journalists on social media even gave the story a serious look:

Boing Boing and Al-Masdar News reported that Herzog “refused to disclose” the source of his information. They also quoted the Labor Party leader as saying:

“In March 2015, King Salman has deposited eighty million dollars to support Netanyahu’s campaign via a Syrian-Spanish person named Mohamed Eyad Kayali. The money was deposited to a company’s account in British Virgin Islands owned by Teddy Sagi, an Israeli billionaire and businessman, who has allocated the money to fund the campaign Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.”

However, Herzog’s office maintained Monday that he said no such thing.

Boing Boing took its lead from Al-Masdar News, which took its lead from the Middle East Observer.

Al-Masdar News has updated its story with an editor’s note that reads, “A spokesperson from Isaac Herzog’s office reached out to Al-Masdar News on Monday to confirm that this quote was fabricated.”

Boing Boing has also updated its story.

The group blog’s headline now reads, “UPDATE Panama Papers: King of Saudi Arabia accused of secretly donating $80M to Netanyahu’s Israeli election campaign.” The story also has an editor’s note that states: “Update: Opposition Labor leader Isaac Herzog, identified in the original article as the source accusation denies having made the accusation; and called the websites claiming he did ‘unsane.'”

The source of the apparently fabricated quote, the Middle East Observer, has made no updates to its original story.