Fake 'Post' article slamming Connecticut church reaches locals
The article claimed the Noroton Presbyterian Church was providing a safe space for a “virulently racist and antisemitic Palestinian agitator.”
By MAAYAN JAFFE-HOFFMANUpdated: FEBRUARY 13, 2019 14:28Fake news article steals Jerusalem Post logo and CAMERA byline in Connecticut.(photo credit: Courtesy)
A fake Jerusalem Post article attacking the Noroton Presbyterian Church and two of its pastors was put in mailboxes in Darien, Connecticut, last week.The “article” was attributed to Dexter Van Zile, a researcher for the Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting in America (CAMERA), although he was not the author of the piece. CAMERA denounced the article’s distribution and called it fake news.The article was distributed during the night or early morning on Friday, February 8. The Post’s logo appeared at the top.A pastor from the church alerted Van Zile to the offense.“He wrote that he really hoped I didn’t write it because it was untrue and unkind,” Van Zile said, explaining that the article claimed that this Darien church was “serving as a safe space” for a “virulently racist and antisemitic Palestinian agitator.”Van Zile said he believes that whoever wrote the article used his name to “pursue a personal vendetta against a local church. To say I’m upset and angry is, well, an understatement.”The researcher said that he hoped that since the Post is an internationally recognized and influential newspaper, those who received the article would not fall for the prank. He called the notion that the paper would publish such a piece “ludicrous.”“My hope is that nobody in Darien was harmed by this malicious article,” Van Zile said. “If I can discover who penned it, I will see what legal actions are available to me.”
