Thanks to reader Kyle.

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Mike Whitney – The Unz Review Oct 13, 2023

There is still no proof that Hamas militants beheaded 40 babies at an Israeli kibbutz last Saturday. There is no physical evidence, no forensic evidence, and no photographic evidence. Zilch. The entire story is based on the unverified claims of an “Israeli settler leader who incited riots to ‘wipe out’ Palestinian village.” (Max Blumenthal) Naturally, one would expect that a professional journalist would question the credibility of a witness whose bias was so transparently obvious. But that is not the case with i24NEWS reporter Nicole Zedek who regurgitated what she had been told as if it were the Gospel Truth. In fact, Zedek still sticks by her story today despite the glaring lack of evidence and the testimony of a person who has a clear motive for distorting the truth. Here’s part of Zedek’s report from the kibbutz where the incidence is alleged to have taken place:

“David, it’s hard to even explain the mass casualties that happened right here, in fact, the Israeli military says they still don’t have a clear number. But I’m talking to some of the soldiers and they say that what they’ve witnessesd as they’ve been walking through these different houses and communities; babies, their heads cut off. That’s what they said. Families completely gunned down in their beds. You can see many of these soldiers right now, comforting each other… Many of them are reservists who jumped into action, leaving their own families behind as well, not knowing the sheer horror they were about to come to….They say they’ve never experienced anything like this. This is nothing anyone could have imagined….” @vtchakarova

It’s worth noting, that Zedek never saw any of the beheaded babies nor did she make any effort to see them. Nor did she record the testimony of any of the other soldiers or villagers who could have confirmed or denied that the beheading actually took place. Instead, we are expected to believe the dubious account of an Israeli extremist whose credibility is greatly in doubt.

But, the credibility of Zedek’s coverage is only half of the story. The other half involves the role of the mainstream media that eagerly picked up the story and republished it without making any effort to verify the allegations. As of Wednesday afternoon, there were more than twenty articles at Google News reiterating in the gruesome details of the barbarous murder-spree that, in all likelihood, never happened. Here’s a sample of the headlines that appeared in Wednesday’s newsfeed:

At least 40 babies, some beheaded, found by Israel soldiers in Hamas-attacked village, Fox

Hamas kills 40 babies and children — beheading some of them — at Israeli kibbutz: report New York Post

At Least 40 Babies Killed In Israel-Hamas War: Repor, NDTV

Hamas terrorists ‘beheaded babies during kibbutz slaughter where 40 young children were killed’, Daily Mail

Hamas Slaughters 40 Babies, National Review

As we have seen countless times before, facts don’t matter. (to the media) What matters is whether a particular narrative advances the political agenda of elites.

Case in point: Check out this brief excerpt from a piece by the Daily Mail that gives a breathless account of an event that never took place:

Hamas terrorists massacred at least 40 babies and young children before beheading some of them and gunning down their families in a small kibbutz in Israel, horrified Israeli soldiers have claimed….

The bullet-riddled bodies of Israeli residents now lay in the grounds of the kibbutz among burned out houses, strewn furniture and torched cars. Solemn Israeli soldiers today went from house to house to take away the scores of people massacred there…..

Outside the destroyed homes, the soldiers told i24News correspondent Nicole Zedek how they saw the bodies of babies next to their cots, their heads chopped off, in a sign of the depraved acts committed by the terrorists since they attacked Israel on Saturday…..

‘You see the babies, the mothers, the fathers, in their bedrooms, in their protection rooms and how the terrorist kills them. It’s not a war, it’s not a battlefield. It’s a massacre, it’s a terror activity,’ said Israeli Major General Itai Veruv from the horrific scene. (Hamas terrorists ‘beheaded babies during kibbutz slaughter where 40 young children were killed’, Daily Mail

Once again, there is not a shred of evidence that the Daily Mail‘s account is in-any-way accurate. There are no decapitated babies, which means that the emotional cornerstone upon which this version of events rests, is pure rubbish. And that suggests that there is an alternate motive for promoting the story. In other words, the author is compromising her credibility in order to dehumanize a group the Israeli government has marked for annihilation. Here’s more from an article at The Grayzone:

The Grayzone has now identified a key source of the claim that Palestinian militants beheaded Israeli babies. He is David Ben Zion, a Deputy Commander of Unit 71 of the Israeli army who also happens to be an extremist settler leader who incited violent riots against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank earlier this year.

In an October 10 interview with reporter Nicole Zedek of the Israeli state-sponsored i24 network, Ben Zion stated, “We walked door to door, we killed a lot of terrorists. They are very bad. They cut heads of children, they cut heads of women. But we are stronger than them.”

He added, “We know that they are animals,” referring to Palestinians, “but we found that they don’t have any heart.” The Grayzone