“Yasir Arafat angrily rejected tonight any suggestion that Palestinians had rejoiced over the terrorist attack on the United States on Tuesday, declaring that the Palestinian reaction was one of identification and not satisfaction with American suffering.
” ‘For your information,’ Mr. Arafat said, when asked in an interview about images shown around the world of Palestinians celebrating, ‘it is clear and obvious that it was less than 10 children in East Jerusalem, and we punished them.’ “
–”Arafat Angrily Insists Palestinians Didn’t Rejoice Over Terror Attack on U.S.,” by James Bennet, in the Sept. 13 New York Times.
“These Palestinians in East Jerusalem today delighted at the bombing and American loss of life, offering cakes and sweets, calling out ‘God is great.’ “
–Martin Fletcher, NBC, Sept. 11. The footage plainly shows adults and children–many more than 10–celebrating inEast Jerusalem. To view it, c lick here, scroll to the bottom of the page, and then click on “Worldwide reaction to the attacks–9/11/2001.” Similar footage fromNabluscannot be viewed because the Palestinian National Authority’s cabinet minister, Ahmed Abdel Rahman, threatened the cameraman with death if it aired. The cameraman complied. Arafat is president of the Palestinian National Authority.
Got a whopper? Send it to chatterbox@slate.com. To be considered, an entry must be an unambiguously false statement paired with an unambiguous refutation, and both must be derived from some appropriately reliable public source. Preference will be given to newspapers and other documents that Chatterbox can link to online.
Whopper Archive:
Sept. 7, 2001: Tommy Thompson
Aug. 30, 2001: HHS spokesman Bill Pierce
Aug. 23, 2001: Variety Editor Peter Bart
Aug. 17, 2001: Tom Daschle
Aug 10, 2001: Robert Mueller
Aug. 3, 2001: Barbara Olson
July 27, 2001: Jeffrey Archer
July 20, 2001: George W. Bush
July 13, 2001: George W. Bush
July 6, 2001: Sumner Redstone
June 29, 2001: David Brock
June 22, 2001: Edmund Morris
June 15, 2001: George W. Bush
June 8, 2001: Nepali Prince Regent (subsequently, King) Gyanendra
June 1, 2001: Mary McGrory
May 25, 2001: Ari Fleischer
May 18, 2001: York, Pa., Mayor Charles Robertson
May 11, 2001: Ted Olson
May 4, 2001: Rear Admiral Craig Quigley
April 27, 2001: Ben Affleck
April 20, 2001: South Carolina state legislator Chip Limehouse
April 13, 2001: Gray Davis
April 6, 2001: Sumner Redstone
March 30, 2001: Spencer Abraham
March 23, 2001: George W. Bush, Rep. Jennifer Dunn, and/or the Treasury Department
March 16, 2001: George W. Bush
March 9, 2001: Russ Freyman, spokesman, National Association of Manufacturers
March 2, 2001: Paul O’Neill
Feb. 23, 2001: Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton
Feb. 16, 2001: Oscar spokesman John Pavlik
Feb. 9, 2001: Lynne Cheney
Feb. 2, 2001: Bobby Thomson
Jan. 26, 2001: Denise Rich
