Perhaps Someone's Ass Needs Factchecking?

Putz, yesterday:

IS ANYTHING SACRED?

Israeli newspaper Ma'ariv was lambasted for printing the note that Obama placed in the Western Wall, allegedly stolen by a Yeshiva student. "Notes which are placed in the Western Wall are between the person and his Maker; Heaven forbid that one should read them or use them in any way," said the Chief Rabbi of the Western Wall. "This sacrilegious action deserves sharp condemnation and represents a desecration of the holy site."

But according to a statement from Ma'ariv yesterday, the Obama campaign actually leaked the note to reporters before Obama even placed it in the wall. Yediot Aharonot, Israel's most popular daily, apparently also received a copy of the note in advance but decided not to print it.

Sigh. Read the whole thing.

From TNR, and the reporter to whom Putz linked, today:

Yesterday, I posted an item about an accusation from Israeli newspaper Ma'ariv that the Obama campaign had leaked a copy of his Western Wall note to the foreign press (rather than Ma'ariv having bought it from some yeshiva kid who stole it out of the wall). After some additional reporting last night, I noted that the story sounded a bit fishy--not only has Ma'ariv not offered any tangible evidence to support this claim, but they also have only made the claim via a spokesman to various Israeli papers rather than printing the accusation in their own paper.

I just got off the phone with a Ma'ariv spokesman who says that the accusation is "completely false," and that he has no idea who these papers were quoting from Ma'ariv. "No official spokesman for Ma'ariv told this to any of the papers." I've got some calls in to these papers to find out where they got the quote. (I'll update here when I hear back.) He told me definitively that "the Obama campaign did not give us a copy of the letter or approve it for printing."

Sigh.

...Baby steps!