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.

read more: https://mondoweiss.net/2023/10/there-is-no-proof-palestinian-fighters-beheaded-babies-the-only-source-is-a-radical-settler/

archive: https://archive.ph/AUb6K

  • @Argonne
    -11•1 year ago

    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

    https://twitter.com/visegrad24/status/1712235926426907075?ref_src=twsrc^tfw|twcamp^tweetembed|twterm^1712235926426907075|twgr^|twcon^s1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.redditmedia.com%2Fmediaembed%2Fliveupdate%2F1bsso361afr0r%2FLiveUpdate_75a1afca-688e-11ee-a8bf-2ebda78b45da%2F0

    • Omega
      14•1 year ago

      When you say “the government”, it would help to specify which government. I’m not saying Israel is lying. But take it with a grain of salt.

      • @Argonne
        -15•1 year ago

        If you bothered to click the link it would tell you

        • @marx2k
          20•1 year ago

          tldr: the Israeli government

        • Omega
          15•1 year ago

          I did click it. Which is why I said Israel. It’s misleading to just say “the government”. Which is why I said what I said.

    • treeOP
      11•1 year ago

      https://www.businessinsider.com/biden-pictures-terrorists-beheading-children-white-house-2023-10?op=1

      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

      • @Argonne
        -6•1 year ago

        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

        • treeOP
          14•1 year ago

          you have no media literacy or you are engaging in bad faith

          they say explicitly the sources are unamed soldiers and there was no further verification other than what the soldiers claimed, is that solid evidence for you

          Later on Tuesday, IDF spokesman Major Nir Dinar told Insider that Israeli soldiers came across the bodies of babies, including some that had been decapitated, at the Kfar Aza kibbutz near the Israel-Gaza border.

          Dinar said the IDF “can not confirm any numbers,” but described the situation at the kibbutz as a “massacre” in which children were “brutally butchered in an ISIS way of action.”

          Insider has not been able to independently verify these claims.

          The claim sparked outrage and skepticism on social media. On Wednesday, 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.”

          “We’re not going to investigate the condition of bodies and even if we did we won’t comment publicly about the condition of our civilians’ bodies. And babies,” he said.

          Dinar said the claim of decapitated babies was made based on what soldiers on the ground had relayed to him and others in the military.

          “Let your readers know that a soldier who handled the bodies, that was his claim,” he said. “I don’t have an evidence and I’m not looking for one.”

          This certainly does not sound like evidence “I don’t have an evidence and I’m not looking for one.” is Business Insider misquoting them? and it seems like they aren’t in a rush to look into it either,

          imagine if we just believed everything about the Ukraine war that Russian soldiers told the Russian army spokesman, I’m gonna guess for some reason you wouldn’t trust Russian soldiers saying similar things about Azov, but you implicitly trust the heresay of IDF fighters about Hamas, maybe consider where your information is coming from and whether it is verified by any remotely credible source

          • @HandBreadedToolsEnglish
            2•1 year ago

            Okok but what about this: https://www.wionews.com/world/trigger-warning-israel-pms-x-account-shares-photos-of-babies-allegedly-killed-by-hamas-646017

            I’ve been posting this link (though there are many like it) because I want to see if there’s anything I’m missing. It seems like Israel has proof of the killing of children, though I believe beheading was not the major method. I don’t think the method is really all that important here though.

            Edit: forgot to add that the Israeli PM literally posted these less than an hour before I’m writing this.

            • @jordanlund
              1•1 year ago

              Nobody is saying Hamas hasn’t killed children, what we’re saying is the story of a mass beheading is bullshit.

              Your link shows three photos blurred to the point of indistinction with the caption reading “murdered and burned”, nothing about a mass beheading.

              • @Argonne
                2•1 year ago

                If your moral compass is - oh at least they weren’t beheaded, then your morals are a lost cause anyway. Do you seriously want to see pictures of beheaded kids to believe them? Holy shit you guys are either cynical supreme or just hate Israel. Either way, I don’t care

                • @jordanlund
                  1•1 year ago

                  My moral compass is “be aware, people lie about shit in wartime, happens all the time.”

                  https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nayirah_testimony

                  https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/2011_Libyan_rape_allegations

                  Only been happening for a few thousand years now:

                  “In war, truth is the first casualty.” - Aeschylus, 525/524 – 456/455 BC.

                  Don’t take away from the ACTUAL horrors of war by promoting bullshit stories with no evidence. There are more than enough horrors to go around.

                  Edit It’s now confirmed to be bullshit:

                  “Israeli official says government cannot confirm babies were beheaded in Hamas attack”

                  Source:

                  https://www.cnn.com/2023/10/12/middleeast/israel-hamas-beheading-claims-intl/index.html

                  "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."

        • @jordanlund
          1•1 year ago

          “Israeli official says government cannot confirm babies were beheaded in Hamas attack”

          Source:

          https://www.cnn.com/2023/10/12/middleeast/israel-hamas-beheading-claims-intl/index.html

          "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."

        • @jordanlund
          0•1 year ago

          Nobody is saying Hamas hasn’t killed children, what we’re saying is the story of a mass beheading is bullshit.

          Your link shows three photos blurred to the point of indistinction with the caption reading “murdered and burned”, nothing about a mass beheading.

          • @foggianism
            3•1 year ago

            Hamas didn’t behead babies. They murdered them the old ethical way!

            • @jordanlund
              1•1 year ago

              One story being bullshit doesn’t justify their other actions. It simply means that first story is bullshit.