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.
archive: https://archive.ph/AUb6K
Just a reminder that the last time we heard stories about people murdering innocent babies, it was complete bullshit. Keep your grains of salt handy.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nayirah_testimony
"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”
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."
The guy was called Ben ZION? That sounds like bad fiction.
Edit: I know this name is propably very common in Israel.
It means “Son of Zion” so…
It’s basically the same kind of atrocity propaganda as Iraqi troops killing babies in incubators in Kuwait. This stuff works because western racists are primed to believe this.
Bothsides people aren’t going to care if this is real or not. They’ve already decided which side they’re on, everything else is a means to an end.
Removed by mod
Which crazy “media” sources are saying this?
Alwaysthesamemap.jpeg
Hamas and Palestine were in the closet beheading babies and I saw one of the babies and the baby looked at me.
the baby looked at you?!?!
Well, not for long, obviously
so the video of hamas spitting on that tattoo artist girl they beat up is from runwayML? she still alive? wanna hear what she says.
who but total bastards attacks an international music festival?
at least tensions will end really soon when gaza is wiped. maybe a new start for everyone on both sides…if you survive.
funniest shit here is the whataboutism all the time.
I hope you die in agony, genocidal monster.
that tattoo artist girl they beat up is from runwayML? she still alive?
according to latest information, yes, she is still alive and is in a hospital in gaza according to her parents
also youre evil as fuck
we have a saying:
if ten ppl sit at a table, then ten ppl sit at a table. if one nazi joins them and nobody walks away, 11 nazis sit at the table.
siding with hamas invalidates any argument. they are nothing but scumbags. to me you are a nazi supporter. have a look at your glorious terrorist eating gold: https://www.forbes.com/sites/mattnovak/2023/10/21/viral-photos-of-hamas-leaders-accused-of-being-ai-fakes-actually-just-poorly-upscaled/
Can you shut the fuck up
at least tensions will end really soon when gaza is wiped.
You fuckin piece of shit. Applauding literal genocide yet acting all high and mighty.
that ISIS talk you do there.
fuck Hamas. serioisly. what a bunch of wankers.
You literally applaud the deaths of millions. Tell me how you are so different from ISIS
“death of millions”?
go visit a school.
so the video of hamas spitting on that tattoo artist girl they beat up is from runwayML? she still alive? wanna >hear what she says.
who but total bastards attacks an international music festival?
at least tensions will end really soon when gaza is wiped. maybe a new start for everyone on both sides…if you >survive.
funniest shit here is the whataboutism all the time.
Quoting so people later know what garbage were said.
They didn’t behead babies!
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.
