In the past week or so, the story of Hamas’s beheading of Israeli babies was front and center in Western media outlets. Nicole Zedeck, a journalist for Israel’s i24 was the first to bring up the allegations against Hamas. She later rolled back on her claims by saying “soldiers” gave her the information and that the exact number of casualties was not clear.
Without a single piece of evidence, other media outlets including CNN, BBC, Fox News, Business Insider, The New York Post and many others, began to capitalize on the unsupported claim, managing to launch a massive propaganda campaign against Palestinians. “What I’m about to speak about is distressing for all of us. But it’s happening and it’s important,” said Sky News Australia’s anchor on Wednesday while maintaining a horrid expression on her face. “Overnight, the most horrific news imaginable: the Israeli defense force discovered the bodies of 40 babies and young children, they’ve been killed, some even beheaded,” she continued with no sign of doubt in her voice.
The news was so widely spread, that even made its way to the U.S. president’s speech. “I never really thought that I would see and have confirmed pictures of terrorists beheading children,” Joe Biden said on Wednesday. A U.S. official later clarified that neither Biden nor anyone else in the White House had viewed such images.
Slowly, different reports began to undermine the validity of the claim. Turkey’s Anadolu quoted Israel’s military saying the regime has no information confirming that such massacre has happened at the hands of Palestinians.
Sky News and CNN also proceeded to walk back their claims, with CNN’s Sarah Sidner publicly apologizing for not being “careful” with her words. “Yesterday the Israeli Prime Minister's office said that it had confirmed Hamas beheaded babies and children while we were live on the air. The Israeli government now says today it cannot confirm babies were beheaded. I needed to be more careful with my words and I am sorry,” Sidner wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter.
It was later revealed that the source of the dubious beheaded babies claim is an Israeli settler who demanded to “wipe out” Palestinians on social media.
Despite Western media outlets retracting their initial claims, it seems that the damaging impact of the falsehood has already sown seeds of animosity towards Palestinians in the minds of a potentially significant audience. Shockingly, news emerged on Sunday of a horrifying incident where a 71-year-old American landlord brutally stabbed a 6-year-old Palestinian boy residing on his lower floor, resulting in the child's tragic demise from 26 stab wounds. Equally distressing, the boy's mother, who endured over a dozen stab wounds, remains hospitalized. Authorities have confirmed that this heinous act was motivated by the ongoing conflict between Gaza and Israel.
“Detectives were able to determine that both victims in this brutal attack were targeted by the suspect due to them being Muslim and the ongoing Middle Eastern conflict involving Hamas and the Israelis,” said a statement released by Will County’ Sheriff in Suburban Chicago where the incident took place.
The seemingly rising animosity towards Palestinians in the West has inadvertently aided Israel in implementing its other criminal plans, including an evacuation order more smoothly. With a perception that there is less public concern regarding Israel's treatment of Palestinians, the regime issued a 24-hour notice for over one million Gazans residing in northern Gaza to relocate to the south. Disturbing reports indicate that the Israeli government had intentions to evacuate the entire territory, forcibly relocating Gazans, who are descendants of Palestinians previously displaced from the occupied territories, to neighboring Arab nations. The United Nations has condemned this Israeli plan as a war crime, but due to strong opposition from regional countries, the regime has been temporarily prevented from displacing more Palestinians. However, it remains uncertain how long this protection will last.
The recent coax involving beheaded babies bears resemblance to a previous propaganda campaign orchestrated by Western media in 1990. Prior to the 2003 invasion of Iraq, a girl played a role in fueling public anger against Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein by recounting how his forces tore hundreds of Kuwaiti babies from their incubators, leaving them to perish. Ultimately, this story turned out to be false. However, it undeniably influenced the American public's perception that Iraq required intervention.
The story of the beheaded Israeli babies goes beyond a mere misunderstanding. It is a disturbing propaganda campaign aimed at portraying Israel as the victim while demonizing Palestinians as monstrous individuals whose killings can be justified. Regrettably, Western media remains silent on Israeli atrocities and fails to shed light on the true horrors unfolding in the besieged Gaza Strip.
While the Western media focuses on highlighting crimes Hamas never even committed, the relentless Israeli bombardment continues to claim the lives of innocent children in Gaza at an alarming rate. Shockingly, one child loses their life every two hours due to the ongoing onslaught.
With over 90% of Gaza now engulfed in darkness and basic necessities like food and water becoming increasingly scarce, it is dishearteningly predicted that more innocent Palestinian children will become victims of the regime's brutality. These children will endure unimaginable fates, being subjected to beheadings and dismemberment beyond recognition as a result of Israeli bombings.
Once again, this fabrication exposes the dark underbelly of Western media, which willingly spreads disinformation and even blatant lies when reality does not align with its desired narrative.
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