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Biased Science: The Lancet Claims Gaza Casualty Count Underreported
Pro-Hamas demonstrators, many of whom are college students, in New York City on May 11, 2024. Photo: John Lamparski via Reuters Connect
The Lancet has a history of publishing agenda-driven and politicized anti-Israel content that goes way beyond the field of healthcare and medicine.
In July 2024, the medical journal was called out for outrageously claiming that as many as 186,000 Gazans had been killed in the current war. Many media outlets rushed to print dramatic headlines under the imprimatur of The Lancet — a significant error given that the casualty claims came not from a peer-reviewed study but from a letter sent to The Lancet, whose writers included at least one with a history of defending Palestinian terrorism.
Now, The Lancet has published a study claiming that the Gaza death toll may have been underreported by 41%.
While this time claims concerning Gaza casualty figures appear in The Lancet in the form of an actual scientific study, the recent report still has numerous similarities with the previous claims, namely a reliance on faulty Hamas sources and a disturbing lack of impartiality on the part of its authors, including one who justified Hamas’ October 7 massacre.
Faulty Science
Even without delving deeply into the numbers, The Lancet’s study is based on a false premise: the accuracy of Palestinian Ministry of Health casualty figures. Openly stating that its methodology is based on this source is effectively admitting that Hamas provides the numbers:
We used a three-list capture–recapture analysis using data from Palestinian Ministry of Health (MoH) hospital lists, an MoH online survey, and social media obituaries.
Furthermore, experts found faults in the study’s number-crunching as well as it other sources, and published their conclusions online:
Again @TheLancet medical journal published pseudo-scientific Palestinian propaganda, dressed up with graphs, meaningless algorithms & fake data from Hamas/Palestinian sources, UN agencies that parrot Hamas etal, and “Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor” – a notorius Hamas-run NGO… pic.twitter.com/SdfDpRuvND
— Prof Gerald M Steinberg (@GeraldNGOM) January 10, 2025
Who’s Behind the Study?
Most disturbingly, the study’s authors were exposed by media analyst Eitan Fischberger. One of them posted about Israel’s “terror” in Lebanon, another accused Israel of committing a genocide, and yet another justified Hamas’ October 7 attack on Israel:
Many media outlets are buzzing about a new @TheLancet study claiming Gaza deaths are undercounted by 41%.
I’ll leave the number-crunching to others, but it’s worth noting that most of the study’s authors are radically anti-Israel—which is already cause to doubt their analysis
pic.twitter.com/F45XcZvYIh
— Eitan Fischberger (@EFischberger) January 10, 2025
The Media Coverage
Throughout the conflict, the media have unquestioningly republished Gazan casualty figures whose ultimate source is Hamas. They’ve quoted Hamas’ numbers uncritically, while adding caveats whenever Israel has offered its own estimates, particularly concerning the number of dead terrorists.
So it’s hardly surprising that numerous outlets saw fit to cover The Lancet’s study.
Disappointingly, given its previous in-depth coverage of the Henry Jackson Society’s study on inflated Gaza casualty figures, The Telegraph‘s report on The Lancet study failed even to mention that the Palestinian Ministry of Health’s data was courtesy of the Hamas-run ministry in Gaza.
The BBC and The Guardian, meanwhile, took the opportunity to blame Israel for not letting foreign journalists into Gaza as the reason why casualty figures could not be independently verified by the media.
These outlets and Reuters did at least include some Israeli reaction (albeit relatively generic), as well as the fact that the study’s figures don’t differentiate between combatants and civilians.
Outlets like CNN and Politico, however, simply parroted the study without any caveat.
For example, here’s Politico’s headline as opposed to the more careful phrasing of Reuters:
But the fact remains that all these outlets should have been more critical of The Lancet’s study, which was thoroughly debunked on social media. Because, unlike those who did the debunking, journalists still have no issue with relying on sources like the Hamas-run Ministry of Health in their everyday reporting, and nor did they do any due diligence on the study’s authors.
Thanks to The Lancet’s professional (albeit undeserved) reputation and the media’s penchant for reporting a source that it treats as beyond criticism, this latest anti-Israel claim has the potential to become part of a narrative that has already accepted disputed casualty figures as fact.
The author is a contributor to HonestReporting, a Jerusalem-based media watchdog with a focus on antisemitism and anti-Israel bias — where a version of this article first appeared.
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Algemeiner Publisher Simon Jacobson: ‘Times Like This Define Who’s Standing Up for Moral Clarity’
The Algemeiner’s publisher and chairman Simon Jacobson speaking at the 11th annual “J100” gala in New York City on Jan. 14, 2025. Photo: FotoBuddy
At The Algemeiner‘s 11th annual “J100” gala on Tuesday night, publisher and chairman Simon Jacobson issued a call for action.
“We’re living in historic times. Events that are happening now are not just going to shape today, tomorrow, but the entire future,” Jacobson said during the event in New York City. “Every one of us senses it, whether it’s events, the different countries around the world, leaderships in crisis, but especially, which is close to our hearts, the Middle East, Israel, the Jewish people.”
Jacobson continued, “So, as chairman of The Algemeiner, I feel especially honored that we are part of making history because it’s times like this that define who’s standing up for moral clarity amidst all the confusion, for values that we all cherish, that are the foundations and the basis of all civilization. That’s the time we’re in, literally every day.”
Describing three types of people — those who make things happen, those who watch things happen, and those who ask “what happened” — Jacobson said “all of you right here and The Algemeiner, are people who make things happen. We don’t just stand at the sidelines and react but are pro-active. This is the time.”
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Algemeiner ‘J100’ Gala Honors Philanthropists David and Debra Magerman
David and Debra Magerman being honored at The Algemeiner’s 11th annual “J100” gala in New York City on Jan. 14, 2025. Photo: Screenshot
At The Algemeiner‘s 11th annual “J100” gala on Tuesday night, philanthropists David and Debra Magerman appeared as honorees.
After expressing appreciation to The Algemeiner‘s leaders, David said, “I also what to thank my wife, Debra. Her support for me, through all aspects of my life, enabled me to do all the things that I do. She is an equal partner in the merit of all the projects we do to support Torah education in Israel. But most of all I want to thank God. God is the source of all blessing. Baruch Hashem. Round of applause for Hashem, thank you!”
David said that one thing he had learned was “how much God runs the world and how much we are living through the realization of his plan.”
Recalling visiting Israel on Oct. 7, 2023 during Sukkot, David said that, afterward, “as we were flying back to America, I deeply regretted leaving. I had to get my kids back to America and I didn’t expect any of us to be particularly useful to Israel as the attack became a war. Frankly, being there we were a liability. But on the flight back to America, I booked my return trip to Israel and I committed myself to figuring out how I could be useful.”
David spoke about how the anti-Israel animus at the University of Pennsylvania inspired him to cease donations. “I called them out for revealing their true nature,” he said. “They were actively supporting evil and proving time and again that through that support they were showing their true selves. You can’t change your essence. I started a movement to push donors and students away from schools like Penn and that effort has led to a growing number of students and families considering college in Israel.”
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The Algemeiner’s CEO Dovid Cohen: ‘I Feel a Tremendous Sense of Responsibility to Stand Up, Be Heard’
The Algemeiner’s CEO Dovid Cohen speaking at The Algemeiner’s 11th annual “J100” gala in New York City on Jan. 14, 2025: Photo: FotoBuddy
At The Algemeiner‘s 11th annual “J100” gala on Tuesday night, the publication’s new chief executive, Dovid Cohen, expressed appreciation for the “warmth and support enveloped by all of you as I assume my new task as CEO of The Algemeiner.”
Cohen recalled The Algemeiner‘s founding on Feb. 25, 1972 as a weekly Yiddish newspaper that cost $0.25 with an initial edition that sold out.
“Very few things in life are cheaper today than they were 52 years ago. But The Algemeiner today is actually less expensive than that first edition,” Cohen said. “The Algemeiner went from Yiddish to English, from print to online, from a weekly to a daily.”
After describing his background in law, spirituality, writing, and podcasting, Cohen said, “We have a very solid foundation to build upon to take our work to an entirely new level of engagement.”
Noting the longtime refrain among Islamists characterizing Israel as the “little Satan” and the United States as “the big Satan,” Cohen expressed fear for the absence of moral clarity in American media and college campuses.
“I feel a tremendous sense of responsibility to stand up and to be heard and to be sure that voices of clarity prevail over the voices of falsehood that we perpetually hear in the media,” Cohen said.
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