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Kevin Barrett claims:

I remember it like it happened yesterday.

It was early October, 2001. I was driving through the Shorewood neighborhood of Madison, Wisconsin, listening to BBC News on WORT listener-sponsored community radio.

The BBC announcer reported on an Israeli cabinet meeting: Shimon Peres had been pressuring Ariel Sharon to respect American calls for a ceasefire, lest the Americans turn against Israel.

According to the BBC, a furious Sharon turned toward Peres, saying:

“Every time we do something you tell me Americans will do this and will do that. I want to tell you something very clear, don’t worry about American pressure on Israel. We, the Jewish people, control America, and the Americans know it.”

The quote appears in this video with 10000+ views. It can also be found on several books scaned by google 1, 2, 3. Is this quote by Sharon?

Sakib Arifin
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    The last two links are identical. – Andrew Grimm Jan 28 '17 at 00:53
  • While the question is on topic, it seems of little importance. – Sklivvz Jan 28 '17 at 09:18
  • It's also found on this book: https://books.google.com/books?id=SDHDBgAAQBAJ&pg=PA20&lpg=PA20&dq=Every+time+we+do+something+you+tell+me+Americans+will+do+this+and+will+do+that.&source=bl&ots=gXv6G1k_qV&sig=ojLu_AIOT-bG8ZMwduFVeSxDo40&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiXgJL0xOTRAhWKwI8KHRvyDd84ChDoAQhMMAg – Sakib Arifin Jan 28 '17 at 09:36
  • Also this one: https://books.google.com/books?id=mVQLi3l2eKYC&pg=PT161&lpg=PT161&dq=Every+time+we+do+something+you+tell+me+Americans+will+do+this+and+will+do+that.&source=bl&ots=8O74utfQ27&sig=7rFW7jNEOgO6OL0LlS7TaJ5qQkI&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiXgJL0xOTRAhWKwI8KHRvyDd84ChDoAQhPMAk – Sakib Arifin Jan 28 '17 at 09:37
  • This one has it: https://books.google.com/books?id=qQfqAQAAQBAJ&pg=PA54&lpg=PA54&dq=Every+time+we+do+something+you+tell+me+Americans+will+do+this+and+will+do+that.&source=bl&ots=lrf36BgcXa&sig=E7gOglcAnA27ck6lUyESbS2LaCk&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwik27mixeTRAhUKMo8KHR3OBU04FBDoAQgYMAA – Sakib Arifin Jan 28 '17 at 09:37
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    Whether the BBC reported this is on *no* importance, The claim is of little importance because it's a small detail of the larger anti Semitic claim that jews control America. – Sklivvz Jan 28 '17 at 09:39
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    @Sklivvz If Ariel Sharon believes he controls America I'd say that is pretty notable. – Avery Jan 28 '17 at 16:24
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    @Avery, If the Jews Controlled the US Peres, a former prime minister, minister of foreign affairs, finance defence and more, a member of Knesset since 1959 and the person who is responisible for building the Atomic reactor in Dimona, would not only know about it and not need a reminder, but would probably be the one orchestrating the conspiracy and pulling the strings. A person that really believes that Israel controlls the US by some shady means and that Peres wasn't aware of it is so far beyond convincing that it's a waste of time. – SIMEL Jan 28 '17 at 23:57
  • As notability is being questioned, it'd be helpful to give more informative descriptions of the links than "this". – Andrew Grimm Jan 29 '17 at 07:14
  • @MohammadSakibArifin still too many "this"s. – Andrew Grimm Jan 29 '17 at 09:24
  • @AndrewGrimm Updated again. – Sakib Arifin Jan 29 '17 at 09:53
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    @MohammadSakibArifin I had in mind including the title, and preferably the author, of the video and books. – Andrew Grimm Jan 29 '17 at 10:11
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    Ignoring the conspiracy of 'Jews control everything'. I would have also read this as 'We control America through international political power or coercion', not literally 'Israeli Jews are making direct US policy decisions'. If one or the other was interpreted from that line of text. – RomaH Feb 01 '17 at 17:04
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    @Sklivvz I don't think it's an inherently anti-Semetic claim, although it is hyperbolic. There's nothing wrong with discussing excessive and disproportionate Jewish influence in American politics, particularly foreign policy, and dismissing any such discussion as being anti-Semetic is against the ethos of democracy and freedom of expression. We discuss "white privilege" all the time, after all: surely many of these privileged and powerful whites happen to be of Jewish descent. This particular quotation happens to be quite relevant since it's from a very prominent Jewish Israeli politician. – MathematicsStudent1122 Aug 11 '17 at 06:13

1 Answers1

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No, Sharon never said this. This is a fabricated quote.

Kol Yisrael political correspondent Yoni Ben-Menachem, who reports on Cabinet meetings, confirmed to CAMERA that he never made such a broadcast and that Sharon never made such a statement. Nor was it reported by any other news service.

According to, Matthew Levitt, Hamas: Politics, Charity, and Terrorism in the Service of Jihad (Yale University Press), the organization responsible for this false quotation, the Islamic Association of Palestine, was a well-known source of Hamas propaganda.

On the urging of the questioner, I have filed a request with the BBC about their October 2001 news stories. (update: It appears that radio news is not archived by the BBC itself. The British Library may have it, but the person responding to my query seemed to answer in the negative.)

Avery
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    Camera's purpose according to Wikipedia: "Pro-Israel Media Advocacy and Lobbying" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Committee_for_Accuracy_in_Middle_East_Reporting_in_America – Sakib Arifin Jan 28 '17 at 18:37
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    @MohammadSakibArifin, this doen't mean that they are wrong. Are you suggesting that they fabricated the report? – SIMEL Jan 28 '17 at 23:59
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    @SIMEL The reason dubious, partisan sources are trusted significantly less than more neutral sources is precisely because they have a tendency to fabricate or misinterpret claims. CAMERA is, frankly, not a reliable source, and this an unsatisfying answer. Given the information that seems to be available, the best we can say is "we don't know whether Sharon said this or not". It's quite ironic, actually, how you dismiss claims made by Hamas and Hamas affiliates as "propaganda", yet you tout right-wing Zionist hasbara sites as being reliable. – MathematicsStudent1122 Aug 11 '17 at 05:55
  • In my experience, CAMERA often has extremely biased opinions, but I have never heard of them simply making up a quotation like this. – Avery Aug 11 '17 at 07:28
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    @MohammadSakibArifin That is so inaccurate, to even describe CAMERA that way is propaganda. CAMERA correct anti-israel reports that they see in the media, and point out all the errors. They are often taking leftist israeli newspapers to task for errors. You'd be hard pressed to find any evidence of inaccuracy from CAMERA.. It's like with MEMRI, somebody could describe them the same way but it's not accurate, and one would be hard pressed to show inaccuracy from MEMRI. – barlop May 18 '18 at 19:02
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    @MathematicsStudent1122 The article didn't just dismiss claims made by hamas and hamas affiliates as propaganda. Read carefully. It quotes a yale press book that dismisses a particular claim on the basis that a particular organisation, a particular affiliate of hamas, made a lot of propaganda. The Yale source may give other examples of propaganda from that particular affiliate of hamas. – barlop May 18 '18 at 19:05
  • @Avery You say "the person responding to my query seemed to answer in the negative" Do you mean you called the british library, they said that if it's there they'd have it, and they responded to say that the quote wasn't made? Anyhow, such a quote would be reported in israeli news too (particularly leftist israeli news like haaretz), if it was made. Around the time of sharon, the lefty editor of leftist haaretz asked condoleeza rice to rape israel, so I think haaretz would've reported it had it happened. – barlop May 18 '18 at 19:07
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    @barlop I mean that it seemed possible that BBC radio is not to be found at the British Library. But I was unable to get a clear answer from the people I contacted. – Avery May 19 '18 at 20:39