Do You Get News from the Fake News?

Back in September 1977, I happened to be in Israel and rumors started floating around that Israel and Egypt were conducting some back-door talks aimed at putting together a peace treaty, which would have broken the Arab non-recognition of the Zionist state for the first time.

As the rumors became more serious, the basic outline of a possible treaty was mentioned, consisting of Israel giving the Sinai Peninsula back to Egypt (which Israel had occupied since 1973) in return for which Egypt would open its border with the Zionist state.

Once the rumor started to appear to be a serious description of a possible plan for peace, all the Israeli newspapers published editorials denouncing the idea. One newspaper, Yedioth Ahronoth, then ran a reader’s poll asking whether Israel should trade ‘land for peace.’ By a two-to-one margin, the respondents turned the idea down.

Now we move forward to November 20, 1977, and the President of Egypt, Anwar Sadat, responding to an invitation from the Prime Minister of Israel, Menachem Begin, stands in front of the Israeli parliament and delivers a speech. The two countries then signed a ‘land for peace’ deal in 1979.

The same week that Sadat came to Israel, all the Israeli newspapers published editorials which by and large supported the ‘land for peace’ deal. A week after Sadat’s…