Israeli Press Outlet Confirms Reports of Beheaded Babies at Southern Kibbutz in Effort To Tamp Down Online Misinformation
‘May their memory be a blessing,’ the Jerusalem Post says in its report.
The Jerusalem Post took the extraordinary step Thursday of telling its readers that its reporters have seen and verified photographs of slain children beheaded and burned by Hamas terrorists at the Kfar Aza kibbutz in southern Israel.
The report comes as skeptics about the veracity of the reports have surfaced online, fueled in part by the White House walking back comments from President Biden about the atrocities.
On Wednesday, Mr. Biden told reporters after a meeting with Jewish leaders that he had seen images of the mutilated children and was shocked. “I never really thought that I would see, have confirmed, pictures of terrorists beheading children,” Mr. Biden said.
When the Washington Post asked a White House spokesman about Mr. Biden’s comments, the spokesman said the president had not actually seen the pictures and was relying on reports in the press and comments from Israeli officials.
The White House’s reversal of Mr. Biden’s comments has further fueled speculation in the Arab press and among Hamas’s apologists in liberal American circles that the reports of children being beheaded were false or, at the very least, as Al Jazeera puts it, “unverified.”
It hasn’t helped that the Israeli government itself is distancing itself from the reports. “There have been cases of Hamas militants carrying out beheadings and other ISIS-style atrocities. However, we cannot confirm if the victims were men or women, soldiers or civilians, adults or children,” an official told CNN Thursday.
Out of respect for the dead, Israel as a rule refrains from publishing images of mutilated, burnt, or beheaded corpses. Yet, Israel’s defense minister, Yoav Gallant, showed such images during a conference on Wednesday with his NATO counterparts. On Thursday, Prime Minister Netanyahu also shared pictures of the victims on social media.
More than 100 civilians were murdered at the Kfar Aza kibbutz by Hamas terrorists Saturday in what was described as a haunting act of depravity by first responders and others on the scene. Children were among the dead. “May their memory be a blessing,” the Jerusalem Post said in its report.
