Financial Times reporter apologizes for hinting Israel bribed Bulgaria
A correspondent for the Financial Times apologized for
suggesting that Israel may have bribed Bulgaria to frame Hezbollah.
“Sincere apologies and regret for ill-conceived tweet
yesterday about Israel and Bulgaria,” Borzou Daragahi, the London-based newspaper's
Middle East and North Africa correspondent, wrote Wednesday on Twitter.
The previous day Daragahi had tweeted, “I don't doubt
Hezbollah/Iran could be behind Bulgaria bombing, but also think Israel could
pay Sofia to say anything.” He included a URL of a Reuters article quoting
Bulgarian Interior Minister Tsvetan Tsvetanov as blaming two Hezbollah
operatives for the July 18 bus bombing in Burgas in which six people were
killed, including five Israeli tourists.
“We have well-grounded reasons to suggest that the two
were members of the militant wing of Hezbollah,” Tsvetanov said.
Daragahi’s apology came after a harsh statement
concerning his comment by HonestReporting, an Israel-based media watchdog
group.
“It is disgraceful for someone who calls himself a
journalist to deal in second-rate conspiracy mongering,” HonestReporting CEO
Joe Hyams said in a statement published on the organization’s website.
Founded in 1888, the Financial Times has a combined print
and online average daily readership of 2.1 million worldwide, according to its
website.
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