The creation of an anti-Israel conspiracy theory

The wildly anti-Israel Veteran's Today has a scoop:

Were Israeli false-flag terror experts – maybe even some who helped pull off 9/11, the operation that Mossad operative Mike Harari bragged about – flown in to Boston to set up a shoot-out as dénouement to the Boston Marathon bombing?

At this point it’s just a hypothesis. But suspicions were aroused two days ago, when Israeli Police Chief Yohanan Danino announced that his officers had flown to Boston to “meet with Federal Bureau of Investigation agents and other authorities” to participate in the investigation of the Boston bombing. As RT reported, Danino dispatched police officers to participate in discussions that “will center on the Boston Marathon bombings and deepening professional cooperation between the law enforcement agencies of both countries.”

But wait a minute…why would American police need Israelis, or other foreigners, to investigate an American crime? And more pertinently: How did Danino know that there would be any Boston Marathon bombings for his team to investigate? According to RT, “Israeli law enforcement planned the trip before the deadly pair of bombings on Monday that has so far claimed three lives.”

When government agents pre-plan their trip to a crime scene, it means they – or their governments – had foreknowledge of the crime.

Let's go backwards through the links and see how this conspiracy theory started.

The RT article says:

The investigation into Monday’s deadly bombing at the Boston Marathon has officially gone international: law enforcement officials from Israel have been sent to the United States to assist in the probe.

Israel Police Chief Yohanan Danino says he has dispatched officials to Boston, Massachusetts, where they will meet with Federal Bureau of Investigation agents and other authorities, the Times of Israel Reports.

Citing an earlier report published by the newspaper Maariv, Times of Israel writes that Danino has dispatched police officers to participate in discussions that “will center on the Boston Marathon bombings and deepening professional cooperation between the law enforcement agencies of both countries.”

The paper reports that Israeli law enforcement planned the trip before the deadly pair of bombings on Monday that has so far claimed three lives, but the discussions will now shift focus in order to see how help from abroad can expand the investigation.

OK, let's now go to the Times of Israel article:

Israel Police chief Yohanan Danino and other senior police officers left Israel late Tuesday night, heading to the US to meet with FBI officials and other law enforcement officials in the aftermath of the Boston Marathon bombings.

Discussions will center on the Boston bombings and deepening professional cooperation between the law enforcement agencies of both countries, Maariv reported.

At least three other senior officers are accompanying the police chief, in what the paper described as the highest-ranking police delegation Israel sends overseas. The trip had been planned before the Boston blasts, but was refocused in the light of the bombings, the report said, without elaboration.

Note what TOI doesn't say: Nowhere does it say that the Israelis are going to Boston. Also, nowhere does it say that Israelis are part of the investigation. Those were RT additions, and the major parts of the conspiracy theory - planning to go to a crime scene before the crime.

What did Maariv say?

In the shadow of the attack on the Boston Marathon, the Chief of Police, Commander Yohanan Danino, the head of the Lahav 433, Commander Manny Isaac, and two other senior police officers went to the U.S. to meet with the heads of the FBI and law enforcement officials in New York and Washington.

Police say that the visit has been planned long ago, but some meetings will engage in strengthening cooperation between Israeli police and police units in the U.S. and the FBI in fighting terrorism.

My Hebrew isn't perfect, but I do not see Maariv saying that the meetings are being "refocused" because of Boston - although obviously the topic will come up. Nowhere does it say that Israeli officials are helping in the investigation, as RT added.

The New York Daily News reports on Danino's visit to New York, confirming he did not visit Boston and the trip was planned long in advance.

So the timeline of the smear is:

4/16: Israel sending top cops to the US to hold meetings in a trip planned long before Boston bombings
4/17: Israeli trip to US being refocused to also discuss Boston bombings
4/17: Israeli investigators going to Boston to help investigate bombings
4/19: Israeli trip to Boston, planned before bombings, proves Israeli involvement in the attack

The VT article goes on to accuse Israel of masterminding 9/11 - and the Haiti earthquakes!

So while VT is a fringe site, we know that the author Kevin Barrett also writes for Iran's PressTV, This meme is already starting to spread in tin-foil hat circles.

And now you can see how the haters find their material.