Erakat's Half Truth

The news today reported that PA negotiator, Saab Erakat, summarily rejected the idea of recognizing Israel as a Jewish state. according to the report on Israel radio, he added that even President Truman refused to do so. Erakat is a well-known dissembler, and it's said that no one in the Israeli media knew the truth, that Truman explicitly described Israel as a Jewish state, in his statement recognizing Israel on May 15, 1948.

The original document is on line here:

To quote CAMERA:

Pres. Truman, did in fact, cross out the words “Jewish State” in the sentence which originally read, “The United States recognizes the provisional government as the de facto authority of the new Jewish State.”

After Pres. Truman's changes, the sentence reads: “The United States recognizes the provisional government as the de facto authority of the new State of Israel.”

The document in question, however, begins with the following sentence:

This government has been informed that a Jewish state has been proclaimed in Palestine, and recognition has been requested by the [provisional] Government thereof.” (Emphasis added. Pres. Truman inserted by hand the word “provisional.”)

[According to Collins and Lapierre, (O Jerusalem, p. ) the words 'the new Jewish State' were originally there because no one yet knew the name of the new country.]

Erakat knows he's a liar. The tragedy is that most Israelis and, a fortiori, everyone else, don't know.