A guest post by AKUS

“Liar, liar, pants on fire” is an old schoolyard chant. Daphna Baram, the Israeli-hating descendant of the illustrious Baram family, was caught with her pants brightly burning in today’s Guardian.

In a rare admission of wrong doing, the Guardian was forced by pro-Israeli readers of the article to acknowledge that, once again, the editors had not checked the facts behind an article published on CiF – in this case, the article A shared story offers hope to Israel that Baram raced to publish:

• This article was amended at 14.10 on October 29. The earlier version stated, on the basis of an Israeli newspaper report, that the book is being used in Palestinian Authority schools. That statement was removed at Daphna Baram’s request after readers questioned its accuracy.

Readers not only questioned its accuracy – they cited chapter and verse from the Palestinian Authority that completely contradicted her and the report from the “Israeli paper”. That paper was, of course, Ha’aretz, where it ran on October 11th with a follow-up on the 25th. The comments on the thread show Ms Baram gradually shifting in her chair as her pants feel increasingly warm.

At first, she holds herself out as a paragon of truth, justice and the Guardian way:

Too true, Daphna, too true … but then comes the first crack in the façade by in a comment by a reader, “yossistern”, who actually … reads … checks … and then comments, since he is not fooled by … you:

After a couple of additional probes, Ms Baram responds a little uneasily … things seem to be warming up around her nether regions:

But not all are willing to buy even this first attempt to dodge the issue … “toryzionist” labors under the remarkable impression that “Facts are Sacred” and what’s sauce for the Israeli goose is equally sauce for the Palestinian gander:

So Baram simply decides to take her ball and go … to lunch!

Such a noble aspiration!

Keen reader “Questorade”, little tongue-in-cheek I fear, pleads with Baram to show that she really is an honest commenter when it comes to Israel:

Questorade, like C.P. Scott, apparently thinks that facts are sacred, but Daphna Baram feels (like her friend Ilan Pappe) that lies are immaterial to the main point and will have none of it!!

Finally – the heat has risen to the point of forcing capitulation!! She cannot leave, however, without some self-justifying weasel words as she rushes out, pants on fire:

As commenter SantaMoniker asked:

When will the Guardian learn to check the facts before allowing Israel-hating bloggers to use its site to spew their lies to a gullible readership?