UPDATE

Shortly following the publication of this communique and a tweet sent to the International Business Times, the offending article was removed in its entirety.

UPDATE 2

The article has now been replaced with the following apology, which we commend the IBT for publishing.

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It didn’t take long before the appalling attack on the French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo was being attributed by some hateful individuals to a source other than the obvious Islamist terrorists.

Take Greta Berlin, the spokesperson for the Free Gaza Movement responsible for the Gaza flotillas, who had this to say on her Facebook feed:

This sort of hateful conspiracy theory deserves to stay where it belongs on the fringes. So why then does the International Business Times (India edition) think that it is worth writing about?

There is no clarity on which organisation is behind the attack on French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo in Paris on Wednesday and therefore, conspiracy theories are gaining traction in internet forums. Fingers are being pointed toward intelligence agencies and Mossad of Israel is a prime contender.

While he claims that “fingers are being pointed,” the IBT journalist only refers to one source (not Greta Berlin in this case). And while he is careful to cover himself by attributing vague third-party sources, he goes on to explain in some detail precisely why such a conspiracy theory could be remotely credible. He then lets his guard down further with his final conclusion:

Although there is no way to verify the claims that Mossad was involved, the backdrop in which the attack took place seems to indicate that they might be involved, many conspiracy theorists have noted. Mossad is responsible for intelligence collection and has undertaken many covert operations for Israel in Europe that aim to further their Jewish cause.

Instead of giving succor to conspiracy theorists, the IBT should have included a mention of what really drives such people to promote such garbage – pure unadulterated hatred of Israel mixed with some toxic anti-Semitism.

[sc:bottomsignup ]