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Famine Claims in Gaza Fell Apart, But Western Media Outlets Never Reported It
Trucks carrying humanitarian aid and fuel line up at the crossing into the Gaza Strip at the Rafah border on the Egypt side, amid a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas in Gaza, in Rafah, Egypt, October 17, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Stringer
For months, Western media outlets amplified one of the most dramatic accusations of the Israel–Hamas war: that Israel was causing famine in Gaza.
The IPC, a UN-backed hunger monitor that has been criticized for faulty methodology, published a report in August 2025, claiming that over half a million Gazans were already experiencing famine. The report was shared and repeated across major outlets with almost no scrutiny.
Headlines warned of “mass starvation,” photos of emaciated children (mostly with pre-existing conditions) filled front pages, and Israel was vilified as deliberately starving civilians.
But when new data emerged that undermined the entire famine narrative, those same outlets suddenly lost their desire to report.
The updated numbers, released in July-August by the Global Nutrition Cluster (GNC), a group of UN and other aid agencies, paint a starkly different picture.
The GNC found malnutrition rates roughly 23% lower than those used by the IPC. The highest rate measured was 11.9%, which is below the 15% malnutrition threshold that defines famine. This is not a minor revision. It is a total collapse of the most alarming claim made about Gaza’s humanitarian situation.
And yet, the media that treated the original IPC report as gospel did not cover this correction.
Not one major Western outlet ran a headline acknowledging that the famine claim had been based on flawed data. The story simply evaporated. No accountability. No follow-up. No explanation.
The Nutrition Cluster finally published the materials from their Sep 17 meeting, confirming that the IPC “analysis” was indeed based on fabricated data that misrepresented the raw, unweighted malnutrition statistics as if they were the properly age-weighted data required by IPC… https://t.co/WOk7RYOK3F pic.twitter.com/QQqfNNo41W
— Mark Zlochin – מארק זלוצ’ין༝ (@MarkZlochin) October 15, 2025
This silence matters.
The IPC’s famine declaration did not unfold in a vacuum. Its figures were used to hammer Israel diplomatically, spark UN condemnations, inflame protests, and put Jewish communities at risk worldwide.
Once “Israel is starving Gaza” became a viral talking point, it didn’t matter that Israeli officials and independent analysts questioned the report’s accuracy. It didn’t matter that key data was missing. It didn’t matter that the numbers were inconsistent or that the methodology was weak. What mattered was that the accusation fit the narrative, so it was believed.
Now we know more about those flaws. Critics pointed out that the IPC relied on incomplete datasets, pulled numbers from clinic-only screenings that do not represent the general population, and shifted to MUAC-only measurements — a quick arm-circumference test that is known to overestimate malnutrition. These issues were substantial enough to cast doubt on the entire famine declaration.
But instead of revisiting their own coverage, the same outlets that amplified the original claims chose to ignore the updated data. The famine panic was newsworthy; the correction, apparently, was not.
This is not just a journalistic failure. It’s a dangerous one. Once a humanitarian accusation of this scale is made, it becomes a weapon. It shapes protests, justifies threats, and fuels antisemitism. If the story collapses, but the media refuses to report it, the lie continues to live.
And this is exactly what happened.
Even as the GNC data undercut the famine claim, the global discourse remained stuck in August: Israel was still being accused of starving Gaza. The emotional imagery that accompanied the IPC report continues to circulate online. The outrage it generated still shapes public perception. The correction never got the same megaphone.
UN’s Gaza Famine Fraud Exposed:
IPC tested 15,700 kids for malnutrition in July and found 12%—below 15% famine threshold
Problematic. So what did they do?
Solved. Now UN can claim famine in Gaza!
Evidence & sources: pic.twitter.com/Re1grOvGsQ
— Aizenberg (@Aizenberg55) August 24, 2025
This should be a wake-up call. In conflict zones, information is a battlefield, and humanitarian terminology, like “famine,” “siege,” or “starvation,” can be misused for political ends. When journalists fail to interrogate their sources or revisit their own reporting, misinformation hardens into “truth.”
Readers should take note: if journalists won’t be skeptical, you must be. Every dramatic humanitarian claim warrants scrutiny. Every alarming statistic should be questioned. Every institution, even UN-affiliated bodies, must be held accountable for accuracy. Because if not, falsehoods travel, outrage spreads, and real people pay the price.
In this case, Israel’s reputation was smeared, global discourse was distorted, and Jewish communities were exposed to heightened risk, all based on data that didn’t hold up. And the media, which should have corrected the record, simply looked the other way.
So next time a headline declares catastrophe, treat it with the skepticism journalists should have shown in the first place.
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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French Authorities Detain Two Minors Suspected of Plotting Terror Attacks on ‘Israeli Targets’
Illustrative: Police officers work after police shot dead an armed man earlier who set fire to the city’s synagogue in Rouen, France, May 17, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Gonzalo Fuentes
French authorities have launched an investigation into a group suspected of planning attacks and two minors have been charged and placed in pre-trial detention as a result of it, France’s national anti-terrorism prosecutor’s office said on Monday.
In a statement issued after a report in French media, the office also said that since the start of 2025, a total of 20 minors have faced terrorism-related charges.
Media outlet Franceinfo reported that the two minors had been planning an attack on “Israeli targets,” citing a source close to the investigation. The anti-terrorism prosecutor’s office did not immediately confirm this in its statement.
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Joel F. Brown named next Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Forward Association
Joel F. Brown has been named the next Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Forward Association, the nonprofit entity that publishes the Forward, America’s most influential and widely read nationwide Jewish publication. He has served as a member of the Forward board and of the Forward Association for 10 years.
Brown most recently served with the Chicago-based law firm Goldberg Kohn as a principal in its Commercial Finance Group. He has written and lectured on a wide variety of finance-related legal topics and was named one of the 2021 Best Lawyers in America honorees in Banking and Finance law. He is a graduate of Wesleyan University and of New York University School of Law.
Since retiring from the practice of law in 2024, Brown has been pursuing a Masters Degree in Jewish Studies from the Spertus Institute. Brown also serves as a member of the Board of Directors of Camp Ramah in Wisconsin, has served as President of Am Yisrael Conservative Congregation (Northfield, Illinois) and is affiliated with the Shalom Hartman Institute.
Brown said, “I am honored to assume this important role in supporting the Forward’s ongoing storied history of reporting on the Jewish American experience in all its diversity. Over the next few years, I expect the Board will help guide the Forward in its mission to cover the full spectrum of Jewish American politics, culture and religion, with an emphasis on reaching new audiences, and in particular younger audiences.”
About the Forward
The Forward is America’s leading voice in Jewish journalism, delivering incisive coverage of the issues, ideas and institutions that matter to American Jews.
The Forward‘s independent, non-ideological perspective on world and national news, and its unparalleled coverage of Jewish arts, culture and opinion, have made it the most influential and widely read nationwide Jewish publication today, and it has been honored with the most journalism awards of any Jewish media organization.
The Forward reaches more than 100 million viewers annually across its website, social media, email newsletters, events and podcasts. The Forward‘s free e-newsletters include the Forwarding the News morning briefing and others highlighting areas of special interest like Yiddish and antisemitism.
Leading outlets turn to the Forward‘s journalists for analysis and interviews, including The New York Times, CNN, Fox, NPR, Politico, Haaretz and The Washington Post. The Forward has been archived by the U.S. Library of Congress and named one of the top nonprofit news sites by Harvard’s Nieman Journalism Lab.
The post Joel F. Brown named next Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Forward Association appeared first on The Forward.
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Eurovision Faces Major Test as Countries Weigh Israel’s Participation
Construction work is ongoing in the main hall of Wiener Stadthalle the venue of next year’s Eurovision Song Contest, in Vienna, Austria, Nov. 18, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Leonhard Foeger
The Eurovision Song Contest faces a “watershed moment” on Thursday when members of the body that organizes the contest may vote on whether Israel can compete in 2026, as some nations threaten to withdraw if it is not excluded due to the Gaza war.
European Broadcasting Union members will convene to discuss new rules designed to prevent governments and third parties from disproportionately promoting songs to influence voters after controversy this year over Israel’s second-place win.
If members are not convinced the rules are adequate, there will be a vote on participation, the EBU said, without naming Israel specifically.
Public broadcasters from Slovenia, Ireland, Spain, and the Netherlands have all threatened to boycott the event, scheduled for May in Austria, if Israel is allowed to take part, citing concern over the Palestinian death toll in Gaza, where Israeli forces had been waging a military campaign against the ruling terrorist group Hamas until a recently implemented ceasefire.
EUROVISION AIMS TO BE NON-POLITICAL
The televised annual celebration of pop music, watched by around 150 million viewers worldwide, aims to be non-political, but the Gaza war has embroiled it in controversy. A boycott by some of the competition’s biggest European backers, including Spain, risks a major drop in audience numbers and potential sponsorship.
This year, critics accused Israel of unfairly boosting the second-place finish of its entrant Yuval Raphael, a survivor of the Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel by Hamas terrorists that triggered the conflict. Israel has not responded to these accusations but frequently argues it has faced a global smear campaign.
“We very much hope the package of measures will assure members that we have taken strong action to protect the neutrality and impartiality of the Song Contest,” the EBU said.
Eurovision expert Paul Jordan, who did a PhD on the contest, said it was a “watershed moment” for the competition.
“This is a real crisis point for Eurovision and the EBU … I think it probably has to go to a vote,” Jordan said.
Ben Robertson from fan site ESC Insight noted the potential impact of a loss in audience, but added without Israeli inclusion, Eurovision risks becoming more isolated.
NORWAY CALLS PROPOSED CHANGES ‘PROMISING’
The Israeli foreign ministry did not respond to a Reuters request for comment.
Luxembourg’s RTL broadcaster backed the proposed changes, while Norway’s NRK broadcaster described the EBU’s signal of major change as “promising.”
If a vote against Israel were successful, Germany would probably withdraw and not broadcast the contest, a broadcasting industry source told Reuters. German broadcaster ARD did not comment. Austrian host broadcaster ORF wants Israel to compete.
Sources within Israeli broadcaster KAN told Reuters it believed discussions about excluding Israel were unjustified, asserting that KAN was in full compliance with EBU rules. It also noted KAN’s support for Israeli acts that have delivered what they described as memorable Eurovision performances.
Russia has been excluded from Eurovision since its 2022 invasion of Ukraine.