Dawn Street
(31
July 2008)
"Obama Kotel Note Leak was PR Stunt"
I thought this at the time. It was carefully orchestrated!!!
3. Report: Obama Kotel Note Leak was PR Stunt
by Gil Ronen and Hana Levi Julian
Democratic
presidential hopeful Barack Obama's campaign seems to have purposely
leaked the contents of the note that he placed in the Kotel, web
magazine Israel Insider wrote Tuesday. While Israel's Hebrew newspaper
Maariv came under fire for publishing the note, "it now appears that
Maariv had collaborated with the Obama campaign in getting the
'private' prayer, with its 'modest' supplication to the Lord, out to
the public, buffing his Christian credentials and showing his
"humility," the web magazine said.
Last Friday, on the
morrow of Obama's visit to the Kotel, Maariv published a close-up
picture of the note written by Obama to G-d, supposedly after a yeshiva
boy took it from the crack between the Kotel stones in which Obama
deposited it. Maariv's competitor Yediot Acharonot slammed the paper
for violating Obama's privacy.
Filched or released for publication?
In
a statement issued following the public outcry over the leak, Maariv
said that "Barack Obama's note was approved for publication in the
international media even before he put it in the Kotel, a short time
after he wrote it at the King David Hotel in Jerusalem." A third
newspaper, Haaretz, quoted Maariv as saying that "Obama submitted a
copy of the note to media outlets when he left his hotel in Jerusalem."
Based
on these statements by Maariv, Israel Insider concluded that the Obama
campaign "managed the event brilliantly, if deceptively, getting the
double benefit of appearing to be victimized by the invasive Israeli
press and prayer-thieving Jew while at the same time leaking out his
humble Christian plea to the Lord." The report noted that by the week's
end, "a (relatively) slick video appeared on [public video website]
YouTube that blended Obama's Western Wall prayer with various church
scenes, crosses aplenty, a dove of peace, and a soundtrack based on
Amazing Grace. The video closes with a "vote" button and an invitation
to visit the official campaign website."