(Updated)(and updated again)(and once more)
Another Obama-bashing May 13 WorldNetDaily article taken from an interview Barack Obama did with the Atlantic magazine misleadingly claims that Obama “says Israel is a ‘constant wound’ and a ‘constant sore’ that infects ‘all of our foreign policy.'”
In fact, the Atlantic interview — which WND offers no link to, so that his readers can judge for themselves — shows that, in context, Obama was “this constant wound” and “this constant sore” does not specifically refer to Israel alone, even though the interviewer asked, “Do you think that Israel is a drag on America’s reputation overseas?” Immediately preceding the question, Obama was discussing Israeli settlements on the West Bank and the Israeli-Palestinian peace process in general:
[BO:] Israel is a vibrant democracy, the only one in the Middle East, and there’s no doubt that Israel and the Palestinians have tough issues to work out to get to the goal of two states living side by side in peace and security, but injecting a term like apartheid into the discussion doesn’t advance that goal. It’s emotionally loaded, historically inaccurate, and it’s not what I believe.JG: If you become President, will you denounce settlements publicly?
BO: What I will say is what I’ve said previously. Settlements at this juncture are not helpful. Look, my interest is in solving this problem not only for Israel but for the United States.
But the article offers none of this context. Further, Klein makes not mention of the expansive statements Obama made in support of Israel, as chief Obama-basher Aaron Klein has done before.
Remember: Aaron Klein and WND have an agenda to smear Obama however he can. Taking this comment out of context is just one more example of this facts-be-damned agenda in action.
UPDATE: A new Klein article quotes anonymous (of course) Hamas officials as saying that “remarks made by an official supportive of Sen. Barack Obama were ‘misunderstood.'”
Isn’t the real problem here that Hamas continues to speak to Klein, someone who’s committed to using Hamas to further his anti-Obama agenda? If Klein is so opposed to Hamas and willing to twist its words to further his own personal agenda, why is Hamas even deigning to speak to him?
And while we’re at it, why is Klein so cozy with terrorists that he’s willing to grant them anonymity? After all, remember what Klein’s boss, Joseph Farah, said about anonymous sources: “usually quotes made up out of whole cloth to help make the story read better.”
UPDATE 2: It turns out that all Klein did is rehash a Republican talking point. Are we sure Klein isn’t on the McCain campaign payroll?
UPDATE 3: Jeffrey Goldberg, who interviewed Obama for the Atlantic, points out that “Obama expressed — in twelve different ways — his support for Israel to me,” and that taking “constant sore” out of context is a “flat-out lie” as well as “mendacious, duplicitous, gross, and comically refutable.” Will WND retract this article like it has had to do before regarding Klein’s faulty reporting?
UPDATE 4: The article is unbylined, not apparently written by Klein. This item has been updated to reflect that.