Slippery Dan Williams, caught lying repeatedly, tries new tack

Reuters correspondent Dan Williams, who has repeatedly prevaricated on the nature of the Mavi Marmara, the Islamist-sponsored and manned ship where İnsani Yardım Vakfı (IHH) operatives attempted to lynch Israeli marines, employs some cheap sophistry to deceive his audience while adapting his previous story lines:

(Reuters) - Israel's Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman said on Sunday he would not quit the coalition government if it decides to apologize to Turkey for killing 9 Turks aboard a pro-Palestinian activist ship last year.
Lieberman, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's most powerful and hawkish political partner, has publicly scorned meeting Ankara's demand that Israel atone for storming the Mavi Marmara as it led an aid flotilla toward the blockaded Gaza Strip.

So the claim is no longer that the Mavi Marmara was itself an aid ship; Williams now tells us that it was merely leading an aid flotilla.  A small step back, although Williams refuses to atone for his previous false reporting with a formal retraction of his claims that the Mavi Marmara was ferrying aid to Palestinians in Gaza.  This failure to correct his "error" openly is, at a minimum, a serious violation of the Reuters Trust Principles and Handbook of Journalism.

And of course, that carefully contrived phrase, "as it led an aid flotilla" (was the Mavi Marmara first in the queue of six vessels?), is clearly designed to give readers the false impression that the Mavi Marmara had as its raison d'etre, the delivery of humanitarian aid to Gaza -- a notion proven false by its empty cargo bays, heavily armed passengers, and a standing Israeli invitation to deliver aid through other channels.