Al –Jarida, an Arabic language Kuwaiti magazine, published an article on Friday claiming that US President Barack Obama has set his sights on becoming the next Secretary General of the United Nations when he leaves the Oval Office in one year.

If true, and if he succeeds in this endeavor, Obama would be replacing the present Secretary General, South Korea’s Ban Ki-Moon, who is serving his second five-year term in the position. Ban’s term as Secretary General is set to end December 31, 2016, coincidentally 21 days before Obama’s second term as President ends. Al-Jarida attributed the rumor to “informed sources”.

The article also claimed that upon hearing of President Obama’s plans, Israel’s Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu “vowed to counter his campaign.” They quoted Netanyahu as saying, “Eight years of Obama’s judgments and marginalizing Israel was not enough? Now he wants to be in a position to cause us trouble in the international forum?”

Al-Jarida was credited with starting a wildfire of rumors in the international press when it printed a story in March, quoting an Israeli source, that Obama halted an airstrike by Israel against targets in Iran by threatening to shoot down the Israeli bombers.  The story was picked up by media around the world, but was quelled when the White House denied there was any basis to the story.

The truth may never be known for sure, however it was later revealed that Israel breached Iranian airspace in 201 in what was thought to be a dry-run for an attack against their nuclear facilities.

Both stories printed by the Kuwaiti magazine seem incredible for quoting high-level Israeli sources, since Kuwait does not have formal ties with Israel.