Time fake news was abandoned
Responsible media outlets need to stop quoting undisclosed sources if they wish to retain their credibility.
A case in point is the Jerusalem Post which has had the temerity to publish an article from The Media Line in advance of the US-Gulf Summit to be held in Saudi Arabia during President Trump’s visit there this week:
Will Donald Trump recognise a Palestinian state?
A Gulf diplomatic source, who declined to be named or disclose his position, told The Media Line, “President Donald Trump will issue a declaration regarding the State of Palestine and American recognition of it, and that there will be the establishment of a Palestinian state without the presence of Hamas.”
The source also added, “If an announcement of American recognition of the State of Palestine is made, it will be the most important declaration that will change the balance of power in the Middle East, and more countries will join the Abraham Accords.”
US Ambassador to Israel – Mike Huckabee – scathingly denied these claims:
I was reminded of my own experience when I sent an email to a senior Jerusalem Post journalist on 2 August 2022 stating:
“.. .I was the guy who more than 40 years ago started an international movement called the “Jordan is Palestine Committee” whose objectives were to point out that:
- Jordan comprised 76.9% of the territory of the Mandate for Palestine.
- The key to ending the long running Jewish-Arab conflict was for Israel and Jordan to allocate sovereignty in the West Bank between their two existing sovereign states.
… You are no doubt aware that Jordan is Palestine surfaced again on 8 June when the following article headed “The Hashemite Kingdom of Palestine” appeared in Al-Arabiya News:
https://english.alarabiya.net/in-translation/2022/06/08/The-Hashemite-Kingdom-of-Palestine
The author – Ali Shihabi – is a close confidante of Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman – and Al Arabiya News is majority Saudi government owned.
Amazingly there has been practically no media reporting or analysis of this Saudi proposal …
…No news of the Saudi plan and its progress has appeared in the Washington Post, the New York Times, Guardian – even the Jerusalem Post or Times of Israel…
… Even worse:
The UN Security Council held its quarterly debate on 26 July on “The situation in the Middle East including the Palestine Question” and not one delegate who addressed the Council – including Deputy Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process and UN Resident Coordinator and Humanitarian Coordinator for the Occupied Palestinian Territory (oPt) Lynn Hastings – even mentioned the words “Hashemite Kingdom of Palestine”
… Why I am seeking your help is the latest development in this saga: My latest article – published on 29 July – alleges that back channel negotiations have actually started between Israel, Jordan and the PLO to implement the Saudi proposal by merging ‘”The Hashemite Kingdom of Palestine”.
I can assure you I have based my allegations on documentary evidence obtained by me …. It is not speculation or based on a conversation…
I am anxious to get responses to the allegations in my article that back channel negotiations have already commenced – from politicians like Lapid, Gantz, Netanyahu, Abbas, Jordanian Embassy and any others you think should be approached. Also there needs to be responses from the same people to the actual proposal. No one in authority has publicly said anything at all to any media outlet – for or against – that I know of.
The story is yours to write if you or another journalist in the Jerusalem Post wants to. You certainly have access to pick up the phone and seek the comments that I do not possess…
The Jerusalem Post was not interested.
Author’s note: The cartoon was drawn in 2023 by Yaakov Kirschen aka “Dry Bones”- one of Israel’s foremost political and social commentators – who passed away on 14 April 2025 and whose cartoons graced the columns of Israeli and international media publications for decades.
David Singer is a Sydney lawyer and a foundation member of the International Analysts Network
