I believe michaelr's interpretation is dead on, and is corroborated by which journals picked this up 1) a fairly conservative New York based Irish American paper, and 2) a new (started publishing in 2002) right wing New York based paper with very strong ties to the pro-Israel lobby, and 3) one of the most conservative weekly magazines in the country.

Pretty much of a no-brainer. The story, which wasn't even a story, was picked up by right wing papers with strong ties to the pro-Israel lobby, and a fairly conservative Irish American paper always looking for conspiratorial evidence of anti-Irish bias in the US that doesn't exist.