SLIP OF THE THUMB NEARLY CAUSE S NEW MIDDLE EAST CRISIS
A UN information officer’s slip of the finger caused a brief diplomatic crisis when she referred to a critical vote as a “one-state solution.”
Shortly after the United Nations General Assembly voted 138-9 Tuesday to recognize Palestine as a state, information officer Nancy Groves sent out a tweet to 1.13 million people on the official UN site: “On Day of Solidarity with Palestinians, Ban Ki-moon stressed urgency of reaching 1-state solution.”
That “1-state solution” baffled and troubled people who read it either from her or the more than 100 retweets of the message that circulated rapidly on Twitter.
Even more confusing was the United Nations’ silence on the tweet for more
than 30 minutes.
Finally, Groves sent a corrected message on Twitter that said “2-state solution” and followed it up with this:
“Sorry all — terrible typo on my part and then went into a telephone confer- ence call before catching it.”
Groves was still apologizing Friday on Twitter as strangers rallied around her in sympathy.
“Hope your day is hashtag: #itgetsbetter,” one poster said.
Groves’ terrible typo opened an opportunity for trend watchers to debate whether such mistakes need a new social-media name. Two offered up: #Freudian Tweet and, in reference to BBC reporter Jon Donnison, who gained notoriety recently for tweeting what he said was a photo of a wounded child in Gaza, which was, in fact, a photo taken in Syria, #Donnison.