JERUSALEM – The Associated Press yesterday retracted a story falsely claiming British Prime Minister Tony Blair blamed the London terror attacks on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

It was the second time in the past few days the media agency falsely linked Israel to the deadly bombings.

On Saturday, the AP published a story claiming Blair explained in a BBC Radio interview that to prevent future attacks against London the Israeli-Palestinian conflict needed to be resolved.

According to the AP, while discussing the "very deep roots" of terrorism, Blair said "that meant boosting understanding between people of different religions, helping people in the Middle East see a path to democracy and easing the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians."

But, as the Committee for Accuracy for Middle East Reporting in America pointed out, Blair said no such thing.

According to a BBC Radio transcript, the prime minister stated only that terrorism must be "pulled up by the roots." After being further questioned by the interviewer, Blair continued he meant that radical Islam must be confronted and defeated in the Middle East.

The AP quickly released a statement retracting its false reporting: "The Associated Press erroneously reported that he spoke of easing the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians. Blair did not specifically mention the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in his interview with the British Broadcasting Corp."

The original AP article briefly ignited a political firestorm.

Israeli President Moshe Katsav and other Israeli officials blasted Blair's quotes.

Chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said that Blair had "touched reality and spoke strategically of the need to deal with the problems of this region."

The error marked the second time since last week's deadly bombings the AP issued a false report about Israel.

Immediately following the attacks, an Associated Press story claimed British intelligence told the Israeli Embassy in London minutes before Thursday's explosions it had received warnings of possible terror attacks in the city.

The AP wrote it was told by a senior foreign ministry official that just before the blasts, Scotland Yard called the security officer at the Israeli Embassy and said warnings of possible attacks had been received. The embassy then allegedly told Israeli Finance Minister Netanyahu to stay in his hotel room and not attend an economic conference he was scheduled to address near the site of one of the bomb blasts.

Setting the record straight in an interview with WorldNetDaily Netanyahu said, "When the first bomb went off, we were departing our hotel. While we were on our way out, the security people said there was an explosion near the area I was scheduled to speak. They asked us to go back and stay put in our hotel."

Israel last week quickly denied the AP story.

"I can tell you unequivocally the reports are false. Israel, including our representatives in London, did not receive any prior notice of pending terror attacks," Mark Regev, senior spokesperson for Israel's Foreign Ministry, told WND after the report. "The only alert we received was a call to our British embassy immediately following the first explosion. That call was routine, and was also placed to other foreign embassies in London."

Israeli foreign minister Silvan Shalom also denied the story, saying, "There was no early information."

The AP quickly replaced the original article with another headlined, "Israel 'not warned' about London attacks."

Scores of media outlets are still reporting the early warning as factual.

Canada's National Post, relying on the withdrawn AP account, still has on its website an article claiming, "British police told the Israeli Embassy in London minutes before today's explosions that they had received warnings of possible terror attacks in the city."

An India Daily article says, "Israel knew and warned [the] United Kingdom of possible terror plots to disrupt life in London. But British authorities failed to respond accordingly to deter the attacks, according to an unconfirmed rumor circulating in intelligence circles. Israel is keeping quiet for the time being with a lot of pressure on the Internet bloggers also are hatching conspiracy theories based on the now discredited accounts. m."

An antiwar.com writer argues the Netanyahu terror tip-off is accurate.

"This isn't the first time that Israeli foreknowledge of a terrorist attack against the West has been raised by a reputable source. One has to wonder: why is it that these reports of Israeli foreknowledge come up with such metronomic regularity? With all that smoke, is there really no fire?" asks blogger Justin Raimondo.

A Stratford Consulting Intelligence Agency account states, "Contrary to original claims that Israel was warned 'minutes before' the first attack, unconfirmed rumors in intelligence circles indicate that the Israeli government actually warned London of the attacks 'a couple of days' previous. Israel has apparently given other warnings about possible attacks that turned out to be aborted operations. The British government did not want to disrupt the G-8 summit in Gleneagles, Scotland, or call off visits by foreign dignitaries to London, hoping this would be another false alarm."

For some, the reports are eerily reminiscent of claims made immediately following the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.

Scores of Internet bloggers and several media accounts claimed Jews received advanced knowledge of the World Trade Center attacks, prompting hundreds to stay home from work. The false reports were widely attributed with fueling anti-Semitic theories that the Mossad carried out the 9-11 terror attacks.

Related story:

Netanyahu: Advance warning reports 'absolutely false'

Israel: We were not warned of London attacks