Student columnist Mariam Sobh used the quote in her December 11, 2003 Daily Illini column, but later had to apologize.
Summary: Fabricated quote, fabricated source.
Former IDF Chief of Staff Rafael Eitan: “We declare openly that the Arabs have no right to settle on even one centimeter of Eretz Israel… Force is all they do or ever will understand. We shall use the ultimate force until the Palestinians come crawling to us on all fours.” (Source given: Rafael Eitan, Chief of Staff of the Israeli Defense Forces, in articles by Gad Becker, Yediot Ahronot April 13, 1983 and in New York Times, April 14, 1983.)
Investigation: The quote does not appear in either article. While both sources discuss comments made by then-outgoing Chief of Staff Eitan, there is nothing remotely resembling this quote. A wider search of the New York Times archives, also turns up nothing.
Summary: Fabricated quote, incorrect source.
MISATTRIBUTED
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon: “You can call me anything you like. Call me a monster or a murderer. . . .Better a live Judeo-Nazi than a dead saint…Even if you prove to me that the present war in Lebanon is a dirty immoral war, I don’t care…Even if Galilee is shelled again by Katyushas in a year’s time, I don’t really care. We shall start another war, kill and destroy more and more until they will have had enough…Let them tremble, let them call us a mad state. Let them understand that we are a wild country, dangerous to our surroundings, not normal, that we might go crazy if one of our children is murdered, just one! If anyone even raises his hand against us we’ll take away half his land and burn the other half, including the oil. We might use nuclear arms… Even today I am willing to volunteer to do the dirty work for Israel, to kill as many Arabs as necessary, to deport them, to expel and burn them, to have everyone hate us…. And I don’t mind if after the job is done you put me in front of a Nuremberg Trial and then jail me for life. Hang me if you want, as a war criminal…. What you don’t understand is that the dirty work of Zionism is not finished yet, far from it.” (Source given: Ariel Sharon in an interview with Amos Oz, Davar, Dec. 17, 1982.)
Investigation: The source is found on Arab propaganda and Marxist websites. It gained credibility when Rocky Mountain News international editor Holger Jensen included it in an April 2002 column attacking Israeli Prime Minister Sharon. Four days later, Jensen was forced to recant, admitting he had ?made a grievous error in not verifying the authenticity of 20-year-old quotes attributed to Ariel Sharon. And shortly after that, Jensen “resigned to pursue other interests.”
In fact, Amos Oz has confirmed that he never met or interviewed Sharon. The so-called interview was a literary device taken from Oz’s book In the Land of Israel. In the English version, the interviewee’s identity is not revealed, and is referred to as Z (Flamingo/Fontana 1983). Apparently, Palestinian propagandists substituted Sharon’s name for Z in the Davar interview. The description of Z does not fit Sharon, and at one point Z himself refers to Sharon, Begin and General Eitan.
Summary: Quote from an anonymous character in book is falsely attributed to Ariel Sharon.
TAKEN OUT OF CONTEXT
President Moshe Katsav: “There is a huge gap between us (Jews) and our enemies – not just in ability but in morality, culture, sanctity of life, and conscience. They are our neighbors here, but it seems as if at a distance of a few hundred meters away, there are people who do not belong to our continent, to our world, but actually belong to a different galaxy.” (Source given: Israeli president Moshe Katsav, Jerusalem Post, May 10, 2001.)
Investigation: While nothing was found in the source given, there was an account in the following day’s edition of the Jerusalem Post. When examined in context, it no longer sounds racist. Katsav was specifically talking about the brutal murders by Palestinian terrorists of two young schoolboys. The remains of Kobi Mandel and Yossi Ish-Ran, who had played hooky from school to explore a cave, were found on May 9, 2001. The Jerusalem Post clearly placed Katsav’s words in that context: