U.S. and international media outlets are repeating unsubstantiated claims that Palestinian fighters “beheaded” babies. These unverified assertions aren’t just sloppy journalism — they are being used to justify a massacre.
U.S. and international media outlets are repeating unsubstantiated claims that Palestinian fighters "beheaded" babies. These unverified assertions aren't just sloppy journalism — they are being used to justify a massacre.
One story has been dominating the U.S. and international media cycle for the past 24 hours. It has been repeated by pro-Israel activists, Israeli government officials, reporters, and anchors throughout the U.S. media and even alluded to by the President. The thing is — this story has not been confirmed in any way. It appears to come from a single source with a history of espousing calls for genocidal violence against Palestinians.
You have probably heard the story that Hamas fighters beheaded 40 Israeli children in the Kfar Aza community near Gaza. This story can be traced back to an article by Bel Trew, a reporter for The Independent. Trew entered Kfar Aza on October 10, soon after the Israeli army, and reported on Twitter that gunfire erupted just as they arrived. She is told by a member of the Israeli military that children were beheaded, but the article notes, “The Independent did not see evidence of this.”
The military source of this claim is Major David Ben Zion. According to his Twitter bio, he is the Deputy Head of the settler leadership organization, the Samaria Regional Council, and a member of the Board of Directors of the National Fund for Israel, a quasi-governmental agency used to acquire land in Palestine that is then made available exclusively for use by the Israeli state.
In this video clip, Ben Zion speaks directly to the camera. He says the soldiers found children with their heads cut off. He is incorrectly named on-screen in the video but is correctly named in the description below the video on YouTube.
In addition to his role in settler leadership, Ben Zion has a history of calls to genocidal violence.
Earlier this year, Israeli settlers carried out a so-called “reprisal attack” on the Palestinian village of Huwwara after an unknown Palestinian gunman killed two Israeli settlers. As we reported at the time, Israeli settlers launched a ‘pogrom’ on the night of February 26, attacking Palestinian homes and property in Huwwara, Burin, and across the Nablus area, burning houses, cars, vandalizing property, and assaulting Palestinians.
"In her testimony, Nayirah claimed that after the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait she had witnessed Iraqi soldiers take babies out of incubators in a Kuwaiti hospital, remove the incubators and leave the babies to die.
Her story was initially corroborated by Amnesty International, a British-based global NGO, which published a report about the supposed killings[3] and testimony from evacuees. Following the liberation of Kuwait, reporters were given access to the country. An ABC report found that "patients, including premature babies, did die, when many of Kuwait's nurses and doctors ... fled" but Iraqi troops "almost certainly had not stolen hospital incubators and left hundreds of Kuwaiti babies to die."[4] Amnesty International USA reacted by issuing a correction, with executive director John Healey subsequently accusing the Bush administration of "opportunistic manipulation of the international human rights movement".[5]"
Edit This mass beheading story also now appears to be bullshit:
"Israeli official says government cannot confirm babies were beheaded in Hamas attack"
"CNN has pored through hundreds of hours of media posted online attempting to corroborate accounts of atrocities committed by Hamas. In one video, which CNN determined to be authentic but has not been able to geolocate, an assailant attacks an injured man with a garden tool in an attempt to behead him. But CNN has not seen anything that would appear to confirm the claims of decapitated children.
CNN also visited the ransacked ruins of Kfar Aza on Tuesday and saw no evidence of beheaded youths. Israeli officials have not released any photographs of the incident either."
Who cares? Facts are so last century. Who tells the best lie the loudest wins. Isn't that what you all wanted when you started rewarding media with clicks for the most rage-inducing bullshit instead of paying to actually get informed?
I think it matters a lot if a group of people summarily executed 40 babies intentionally, there is a huge difference between civilian casualties in an attack and the intentional targeting of children in an attack and I think you would have to be pretty naive not to know there is a big difference between those two things, civilian deaths are inherently bad, but intentionally targeting children attaches an indescribable evil to the actions, which I'm guessing is the point of why this story circulated, and I would be very surprised if anything remotely similar to Hamas beheaded 40 children turns out to be the truth
I think it is important that we separate fact from fiction. That being said, I do agree that just the fact that children were murdered in any manner is abhorrent. That goes for both Israeli and Palestinian children. Innocent blood is on the hands of multiple people/groups/nations... and it is unacceptable. We have to mentally separate groups like Hamas from the populations they live amongst because they are not the same. After all, not all Americans are Proud Boys or Oath Keepers and not all citizens support the actions of the governments they live under.
If your question is genuine. Then the answer is pretty obvious to me at least, and I'm glad i can help you out here. The point of these kind of lies is to dehumanise your enemy. When Israel then goes ahead and kills a much larger number of babies, it's easier to sell why they "had to do this".
"Wtf are you talking about you piece of shit, Israel has done no such thing", I imagine some thinking. Well..... Historically they've killed Palestinian children at a rate of 20:1. But, what about these 40 cases who are still without any proof (smell test: there is likely none, or it would've surfaced day 1). Aaaannnnd, how many are estimated dead in Gaza bombings the past days? 1400 Palestinians, in a defacto prison where half are children.
"Yeah... But they had it coming. Because I'm emotionally riled up by the animalistic brutal acts done by beheadi.... Hmm... Ah, I see"
They only use their own citizens as human shields and parade tourists around like war spoils before killing them. Such shining examples of humanity Hamas is.
I was pretty sure these israeli funded cowards will create such stories.
They have to go over the top in every fucking things. This racist entity does not want to be part of mankind, no.
They are fucking funded, they are in the top 5 of weapon manufacturers, they act like terrorists (sorry, this is not a state), and still, they play the victim while shooting behind their desk.
you don't have to be arab to be disgusted by such amount of cowardice.
"CNN has pored through hundreds of hours of media posted online attempting to corroborate accounts of atrocities committed by Hamas. In one video, which CNN determined to be authentic but has not been able to geolocate, an assailant attacks an injured man with a garden tool in an attempt to behead him. But CNN has not seen anything that would appear to confirm the claims of decapitated children.
CNN also visited the ransacked ruins of Kfar Aza on Tuesday and saw no evidence of beheaded youths. Israeli officials have not released any photographs of the incident either."
What kind of evidence are you looking for? The government confirmed it. Are you looking for pictures of beheaded babies, because I think you will be disappointed if you expect that
On Wednesday, President Joe Biden said he saw "pictures of terrorists beheading children."
Hours later, a National Security official walked back those comments.
The official told NPR Biden was referring to media reports about the attack in Israel.
a White House official said that neither Biden nor the administration had seen these images and that Biden was referring to comments from Israeli officials and reports in the media.
after pressure to provide evidence of the grisly claim, Dinar told Insider the IDF would not further investigate the claims and that doing so would be "disrespectful for the dead."
This the same guy you're talking about? They certainly confirmed Biden did not see any evidence, maybe consider not spreading misinformation
Don't be afraid to click the link. I wish you would do that before blindly accusing me of misinformation.The confirmation comes from the Israeli government
The office of Israel's Prime Minister confirms that Israeli soldiers found beheaded babies in the Kfar Aza Kibbutz
Please, feel free to correct me if I'm wrong. I do not know a ton about the situation, but the PM literally just posted stuff less than an hour before I'm writing this.