JOHANNESBURG - As investigations continue into how more than three hundred Palestinian refugees ended up coming to South Africa.
There've been claims that the Israeli government is behind it, in a bid to create a diplomatic nightmare for Pretoria.
Tim Flack, of Flack Partners PR, warns that the blame should be placed squarely on South Africa, because everyone knows that the Israeli government has not stamped anyone leaving their country through an airport since 2013.
Flack claims that the whole scene at the airport is a campaign to blow the story out of proportion and make it seem like more than what it is.
He says that this is the second plane that has landed in South Africa under these circumstances, and the first plane did not have any issues with entry into the country.
Flack cautions the media, and journalists, against taking the words of Gift of the Givers founder, Imtiaz Sooliman, or anyone else, at face value. Sooliman had told eNCA earlier that the refugees had to pay $2 000 for this trip and that they had no idea where they were going.
READ | Palestinian Refugees | Sooliman: This is part of ethnic cleansing
When asked about his aim in all of this, Flack said that "the whole thing is for misinformation." He warns that certain narratives get pushed and people use social media to make things go viral and that becomes the standard and people don't bother to check the facts.
Flack claims that he has spoken to people that are directly involved with this, such as a woman Flack named "R", to protect her anonymity.
"It is concerning that one man can pick up a telephone call to the president and people just jump."
He says that we can't believe something just because Sooliman is saying it, because that is not correct journalism. It needs to be checked.