Tricked Again

Yesterday’s blog about the Khazars contains a lot of truth, but unfortunately, the news article from the Times of Israel was a spoof. It brought out some genuine news items, but no doubt the part about Netanyahu considering a reverse Zionism plan was fake.

Even so, the reason for the spoof was undoubtedly written to point out that if most Israelis are Khazars, then perhaps their Zionistic ideology is misplaced. They should consider moving back to Ukraine and Crimea.

I looked up the Times of Israel, and found it to be a serious newspaper overall, having serious news articles in it. However, the article in question was on the opinion page and was just a spoof.

A reader did some research and wrote this to me:

Stephen,

Yes, it was an opinion blog. There is a disclaimer at the front of the blog being from a third party. It's very subtle at first. The two listed contributors are Hershel Ostropoler, a rework of the name of a Jewish prankster over 100 years ago, Hershel of Ostropol. I.Z. Grosser-Spass is a pun, grosser spass means big joke in German or Yiddish.

He mixes quotes of real works by Koestler and Elhaik, the latter I was familiar with. Then he makes fun of them very subtly until the quoted reactions section where its less subtle. Again there, he took names of real people and organizations, changed them a little, and made fun of them with the comments. Even the "Chazerai" comment is a bad joke, it's Yiddish for trash and Palestinians wouldn't be speaking Yiddish.

The Times of Israel is real, this blog post wasn't. Sorry. Check out the comments thread for some of the backlash, where several people point out the puns and changed names. There's enough contended information quoted to bait those familiar with it. The aid quoted is likely entirely made up, as well as the Netanyahu quotes.