In the wake of the tragic explosion in Beirut yesterday, it was inevitable that some antisemites and Israel-haters would blame it on Israel.
The antisemitic conspiracy theory and fake news website Veterans Today website did not disappoint, reporting that we hit Beirut with nuclear missile. And now it is the turn of anti-Israel DouchebloggerTM Richard Silverstein to point the finger at us.
A confidential highly-informed Israeli source has told me that Israel caused the massive explosion at the Beirut port earlier today which killed over 100 and injured thousands. The bombing also virtually leveled the port itself and caused massive damage throughout the city.
Israel targeted a Hezbollah weapons depot at the port and planned to destroy it with an explosive device. Tragically, Israeli intelligence did not perform due diligence on their target. Thus they did not know (or if they did know, they didn’t care) that there were 2,700 tons of ammonium nitrate stored in a next door warehouse. The explosion at the arms depot ignited the next door warehouse, causing the catastrophe that resulted.
It is, of course, unconscionable that Israeli agents did not determine everything about their target including what was in its immediate vicinity. The tragedy Israel has wreaked is a war crime of immense magnitude.
Silverstein is always speaking about having secret sources. Yet he has time and again posted demonstrably fake things, even when supposedly relying on his “source.” And don’t forget the time I orchestrated a “source” to supposedly reveal my true identity, but actually to show how unreliable he is.
Of course, Silverstein is not interested in the truth. He is interested in inflicting maximum damage on Israel’s reputation with his “reporting.” Which is why he includes this “aside”
As an aside, former Likud MK Moshe Feiglin tweeted a quotation from the Bible about the disaster: “There never have been such great days in Israel as the 15th of Av [the day of the bombing] and Yom Kippur.”
Silverstein deliberately does not include more of Feiglin’s post, which shows the context of his remarks was that rockets meant for Israel were destroyed (having said that, Feiglin’s post was grossly insensitive).
Silverstein ends the post with yet another lie.
The second tell-tale sign is that Israel never offers humanitarian aid to its Arab neighbors.
During the Syrian Civil War the only group to whom Israel offered humanitarian assistance was its Islamist anti-Assad allies
Israel has been been aiding Syrian refugees for years. We have even offered humanitarian assistance to Iran to help earthquake victims!
No doubt Silverstein will be invited back on to Iran’s Press TV to disseminate these latest lies.
I think Avi Scharf, the editor of Haaretz English Edition – not exactly the most pro-Israel rag out there – speaks for many of us with this tweet
