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October 24, 2013 11:45 am
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Haaretz Admits Rihanna ‘Palestine’ Report Was ‘Mistaken’

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avatar by Algemeiner Staff

Tweets from international pop star Rihanna.

Israeli daily Haaretz on Thursday retracted a controversial front page story that had pop star Rihanna singing support for “Palestine” after music fans in attendance at her only concert in Israel, in Tel Aviv on Tuesday night, told The Algemeiner that Haaretz’s report was totally fictional.

“In ‘Pour it Up’ instead of ‘All I see is signs / All I see is dollar signs,’ she subbed in ‘All I see is Palestine,'” wrote journalist Amy Klein in Haaretz. The report was quickly picked up by The Huffington Post, UPI, BuzzFeed, Radar Online and many Arab media outlets, where in some cases it remains un-corrected.

“I was amazed when I read the Haaretz story as it didn’t tally with my experience at the concert,” attendee Michael Dickson, director of the Israel office of advocacy group StandWithUs, told The Algemeiner.

At 11:30 AM on Thursday, Haaretz corrected Wednesday’s report, and included the following statement and a link to video footage that repudiated its original report:

The original headline for this article has been changed (from “All Rihanna sees ‘is Palestine,’ but Israelis didn’t seem to care”) and part of a sentence was removed from the story (“in “Pour it Up” instead of “All I see is signs / All I see is dollar signs,” she subbed in “All I see is Palestine.”)

Upon reviewing video footage of the show posted after publication, it is clear that the change in lyrics attributed to Rihanna was mistaken.

The footage can be found here:

The concert was promoted by Israelis as an affront to opponents of the Jewish state who have tried to intimidate international musicians from performing there.

On Thursday, BuzzFeed, a popular U.S. internet site, chastised Haaretz for starting the false rumor that quickly spread online.

“Details are coming out that Rihanna changing the lyrics to her song was not correct. All the previous articles about her changing the lyrics are sourced to the original Haaretz piece,” BuzzFeed wrote.

The Haaretz newspaper has a history of running misleading reports and has been forced to issue embarrassing corrections in the past.

Watch the clip from Rihanna’s concert below:

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