As a reader noted earlier, Weigel shows how the “Friends of Hamas” smear against Chuck Hagel may refer to an organization that doesn’t even exist and was hyped by the dregs of Breitbart and passed along by fanatics like Hugh Hewitt. I’m beginning to realize why we were told at the get-go that the Greater Israel Lobby was not going to fight this nomination. Because they were going to fight it to the bitterest end imaginable. Weigel asked Ben Shapiro, the sole source for this story, about it this morning:
“Have you found any more proof that this group exists?” I asked. “Is it just shorthand for some people who might support Hagel, or a real group?” “The original story is the entirety of the information I have,” he said.
You can observe what goods Shapiro had in the original piece. The source? “Senate sources”. None of whom have been able to be located since.