The Israeli newspaper Haaretz scored a huge scoop on Monday, reporting that former Mayor Mike Bloomberg was in the Middle East and had denounced Palestinians for failing to seek peace with Israel.
Only one problem: It was the wrong “Mike.”
Haaretz’s Twitter feed confused Mayor Bloomberg with Fox News Channel host and former GOP presidential hopeful Mike Huckabee.
Haaretz, which describes itself as “the world’s leading English-language Website for real-time news and analysis of Israel and the Middle East,” accurately quoted Huckabee saying that Palestinians have “no intention of a peaceful resolution.”
But in tweeting out the comments, the words were attributed to @MikeBloomberg. The tweet was quickly deleted and replaced with another tweet that properly cited @GovMikeHuckabee, the former Arkansas governor’s Twitter handle.
“As long as textbooks of the children of Palestinians celebrate the death of Jews…you cannot negotiate, you cannot talk about peace if one of the parties has no intention of a peaceful resolution,” Huckabee told reporters at the Bible Lands Museum in Jerusalem.
Huckabee, a Southern Baptist, was leading his annual trip to Israel with a group of Christian pilgrims.