Groundhog Day

Ten stories that appear in the papers again and again, but never seem to actually happen.

BY JOSHUA KEATING | OCTOBER 27, 2009

“Hamas in talks over releasing Gilad Shalit”

JONATHAN NACKSTRAND/AFP/Getty Images

Ever since Israeli Cpl. Gilad Shalit was taken prisoner in 2006, the militant group Hamas has seemed to delight in dangling the prospect of his release before an anxious Israeli public. Negotiations over Shalit began almost immediately after he was taken. In October 2006, one of the factions holding Shalit reported that they had agreed to Israel's term and were preparing to release Shalit "within days."

Similar reports of "progress" in freeing Shalit have popped up in the Israeli media ever since. Things seemed particularly promising in March 2009 when Israeli negotiators seemed close to a prisoner exchange deal with Hamas at Egyptian-moderated talks, but those too broke down. In September 2009, Israel settled for a video of Shalit in exchange for 20 Palestinian prisoners. Hamas seems in no hurry to give up its most valuable prisoner any time soon.

 SUBJECTS:
 

Joshua Keating is deputy Web editor at Foreign Policy.

GRANT

12:31 PM ET

October 28, 2009

It's likely that the reason

It's likely that the reason those stories get circulated so much is due to their improbability. Hearing something so odd gets the attention of readers/listeners/viewers for a brief time, and they don't hold the news source responsible a few months later when it turns out to have been wrong. In the reporters' defense however, please remember that Mr. Castro is a human; sooner or later that story will be fact.

 

WAYNE_C_WHITE@YAHOO.COM

12:36 PM ET

October 28, 2009

visual veracity

Your picture isn't a groundhog--they don't come in blonde.

 

PLUPIPER

12:09 AM ET

November 3, 2009

True

in fact the picture is of a Prarie Dog

 

MOHAIR.SAM

1:58 PM ET

October 29, 2009

Amusing!

Good column, Mr. Keating. Good points all. I'm reminded of the old SNL News declarations about Generalissimo Francisco Franco's persistent demise.

 

BOB LG

11:26 AM ET

November 3, 2009

Re: "Israel preparing military strike against Iran"

Keating states:
In December 2005, then Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon ordered his military to prepare for the possibility of a strike on Iran's nuclear enrichment facilities
...
Since then it's been regularly reported that Israel was preparing an "imminent" military strike against Iranian facilities
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Lets be clear and point out that this has been going on since 1992

June 15, 1992, Press-Telegram (Long Beach, CA)
ISRAEL HINTS AT ATTACK ON IRAN NUCLEAR PROGRAM

JERUSALEM - Military and political action may be needed to prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons, Israel's air force chief said Sunday. Maj. Gen. Herzl Budinger told Israel television that if Iran's intensive effort to develop atomic weapons isn't ``disrupted'' the fundamentalist Islamic nation would become a nuclear power by the end of the decade.

Mar 13, 1993 Washington Post
Israel Seeking to Convince U.S. That West Is Threatened by Iran; Jewish Leaders Say Only Washington Capable of Restraining Tehran

August 26, 1994 Forward
Israel Pushing Curbs on Iran: Says Mullahs' Nuclear Threat Has Grown

This goes on every year to the present. Joshua Keating would have a better article if this point was made more clearly incorporating who exactly has been demanding action on Iran's "nukes."