Navigate to News section

Iran and the Weekend Hangover

A round-up of fake news we wish were true and true news we wish were fake

by
Adam Chandler
January 28, 2013
Portion of a cartoon that ran in the 'Sunday Times' of London(Times)
Portion of a cartoon that ran in the 'Sunday Times' of London(Times)

Over the weekend, speculation grew over a story that Iran’s underground nuclear facility at Fordo–a key uranium-enriching lynchpin in Iran’s burgeoning nuclear machine–had met with an unfortunate accident.

Had it been true (here I suppose I should note the story’s not yet been disproven), the weekend’s big narrative would have been something about the most daring sabotage mission in history. Casting calls for the Israeli doppelgängers of Lee Marvin, Ernest Borgnine and Charles Bronson would likely have gone out. How I would have loved to write a post about that, but unfortunately, what we’re stuck with is both true and much worse.

Growing ever more fearful of a chemical weapons attack as Syria unravels, Israel deployed two Iron Dome batteries to the northern part of the country. To the southwest, Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi imposed 30-day curfews on three cities following widespread riots that killed scores and injured hundreds as his rule continues to look less stable.

As various countries marked International Holocaust Remembrance Day, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu again made the case to the world that Iran is plotting a second Holocaust while Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad urged attendees at a conference on Muslim unity to join together and defeat Zionism.

Argentina made a pact with Iran to ostensibly absolve the Islamic Republic of its role in the bombing and mass killing of Jews in Argentina in 1994. The Sunday Times of London used the memorial holiday as a chance to publish a cartoon portraying a hook-nosed Benjamin Netanyahu paving a brick wall using Palestinian blood as his mortar. Meanwhile, former Italian premier Silvio Berlusconi–who is considering a comeback–defended Italian dictator Benito Mussolini’s World War II alliance with Hitler, but was kind enough to include criticism of Il Duce’s anti-Jewish laws.

Did I miss anything?

Adam Chandler was previously a staff writer at Tablet. His work has appeared in the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, the Atlantic, Slate, Esquire, New York, and elsewhere. He tweets @allmychandler.