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Questionable Haaretz Reporting Used to Demonize Israel

The personal belongings of festival-goers are seen at the site of an attack on the Nova Festival by Hamas gunmen from Gaza, near Israel’s border with the Gaza Strip, in southern Israel. Photo: Reuters/Ronen Zvulun

One of the most prevalent issues with coverage of the current war between Israel and Hamas is the spread of inaccurate reporting and misinformation.

As seen with the Al-Ahli Hospital explosion and other similar instances, inaccurate reports help to fuel a narrative that whitewashes Hamas’ terrorist actions while simultaneously condemning Israel for acts that it did not commit. This false narrative then takes off on social media, and quickly becomes an accepted fact for many people.

Two instances of seemingly inaccurate reporting that have spread in both the mainstream media and online are the reports that the IDF Spokesperson announced that Israeli strikes against Hamas would emphasize “damage and not accuracy,” and the claim that some of those killed at the Nova music festival were killed by an Israeli military helicopter and not by Hamas terrorists.

Both of these claims were initially reported in the Israeli daily, Haaretz.

“Damage and Not Accuracy”

On October 10, three days after the horrific Hamas terror attack in Israel’s south, the Haaretz daily blog reported a number of statements made that morning by the IDF Spokesperson, Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari, in a briefing to military reporters. One of these statements attributed to the spokesperson was that, for the IDF, “the emphasis is on damage and not on accuracy.”

From an analysis of the text of Rear Admiral Hagari’s statement that morning, it appears that this is not an exact quote but a paraphrasing of his words.

The actual quote is “between accuracy and the scale of damage, right now we are busy with what generates maximum damage” (emphasis added). It was said in the context of the spokesperson’s remarks on Israel’s bombardment of Hamas targets in Gaza and the armaments that Israel had at its disposal to complete this task.

The statement was made during the initial stage of Israel’s retaliation against Hamas for its brutal slaughter on October 7 and was not a declaration of how Israel would conduct itself throughout the war.

Despite the nuanced context of the statement, the Haaretz paraphrasing was soon picked up by a variety of international media organizations and has been used to support incorrect observations about Israel’s conduct in this war.

On that same day, Haaretz’s English website featured a report that quoted the Gaza Health Ministry’s accusation that Israel was conducting indiscriminate bombing in Gaza. The report continued in the next paragraph, “On Tuesday morning, the IDF reported having dropped hundreds of tons of bombs in attacks on the Strip and said that ‘the emphasis is on damage, not precision.’”

This leaves the reader with the incorrect impression that the Hamas-run Ministry’s accusation is in line with the IDF’s stated method of warfare.

Also on October 10, The Guardian reported that “Speaking on Tuesday morning, IDF spokesperson R Adm Daniel Hagari made the startling admission that ‘hundreds of tons of bombs’ had already been dropped on the tiny strip, adding that ‘the emphasis is on damage and not on accuracy.’”

Here too, the underlying message appears to be that Israel is indiscriminately bombing Gaza in its fight against Hamas.

One month later, in his column for The Washington Post, Ishaan Tharoor claimed that the IDF’s assertion that it tries to avoid civilian casualties and is only focused on military targets is at odds with Rear Admiral Hagari’s earlier statement “that the ’emphasis’ of the IDF’s reprisal was ‘on damage and not on accuracy.’”

Only by dissecting the original quote from its proper context could this assertion appear to have any validity.

This decontextualized paraphrasing of the IDF Spokesperson’s comments on October 10 has also been used by Vox and Al Jazeera to insinuate that Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza might be tantamount to genocide (an absurd and dangerous allegation).

Aside from the mainstream media, this paraphrasing of the spokesperson’s original comment has also made its way onto social media, where it is used as a cudgel by opponents of Israel to delegitimize the Jewish state’s fight against Hamas.

Despite the fact that the IDF spokesperson’s comments on the morning of October 10 were poorly paraphrased in the initial Haaretz report — and Israeli officials have continually asserted that Israel does not target civilians — this modified quote has continuously appeared out of context in both the mainstream media and online as a means of questioning the morality of Israel’s military strategy and disqualifying its legitimate war against Hamas.

The Israeli Helicopter at the Nova Festival

On November 18, Haaretz published a piece by Josh Breiner on the ongoing investigation into the atrocities of October 7, including the massacre at the Nova music festival near Kibbutz Re’im.

As part of his report, Breiner wrote that “According to a police source, the investigation also indicates that an IDF combat helicopter that arrived to the scene and fired at terrorists there apparently also hit some festival participants.”

This one sentence then became the basis for an article by Business Insider, which was subsequently promoted by Yahoo News.

.@BusinessInsider has responded to our complaint by adding an editor’s note that an Israel Police statement has been added to the story, which it attributes to @haaretzcom.

That’s not good enough. Bottom line: it’s still an inaccurate and damaging story. https://t.co/ZLzfEqSY3Y

— HonestReporting (@HonestReporting) November 21, 2023

The claim that some of the casualties at the Nova festival had been killed by Israel was also picked up by anti-Israel news outlets such as the Islamic Republic of Iran’s Press TV, the Hamas-affiliated Quds News Network, and Electronic Intifada.

Then, this story was further blown out of proportion on social media by those seeking to absolve Hamas of its crimes by claiming that the deaths at the festival were largely the result of indiscriminate fire by the IDF and not Hamas terrorists.

This story even went so far that the Palestinian Authority’s Foreign Ministry issued a statement blaming the IDF for the entire Nova massacre and a representative of Hamas claimed on Sky News Australia that “Israeli jets” killed “1,400 people” at the music festival.

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.

The post Questionable Haaretz Reporting Used to Demonize Israel first appeared on Algemeiner.com.

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After False Dawns, Gazans Hope Trump Will Force End to Two-Year-Old War

Palestinians walk past a residential building destroyed in previous Israeli strikes, after Hamas agreed to release hostages and accept some other terms in a US plan to end the war, in Nuseirat, central Gaza Strip October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa

Exhausted Palestinians in Gaza clung to hopes on Saturday that US President Donald Trump would keep up pressure on Israel to end a two-year-old war that has killed tens of thousands and displaced the entire population of more than two million.

Hamas’ declaration that it was ready to hand over hostages and accept some terms of Trump’s plan to end the conflict while calling for more talks on several key issues was greeted with relief in the enclave, where most homes are now in ruins.

“It’s happy news, it saves those who are still alive,” said 32-year-old Saoud Qarneyta, reacting to Hamas’ response and Trump’s intervention. “This is enough. Houses have been damaged, everything has been damaged, what is left? Nothing.”

GAZAN RESIDENT HOPES ‘WE WILL BE DONE WITH WARS’

Ismail Zayda, 40, a father of three, displaced from a suburb in northern Gaza City where Israel launched a full-scale ground operation last month, said: “We want President Trump to keep pushing for an end to the war, if this chance is lost, it means that Gaza City will be destroyed by Israel and we might not survive.

“Enough, two years of bombardment, death and starvation. Enough,” he told Reuters on a social media chat.

“God willing this will be the last war. We will hopefully be done with the wars,” said 59-year-old Ali Ahmad, speaking in one of the tented camps where most Palestinians now live.

“We urge all sides not to backtrack. Every day of delay costs lives in Gaza, it is not just time wasted, lives get wasted too,” said Tamer Al-Burai, a Gaza City businessman displaced with members of his family in central Gaza Strip.

After two previous ceasefires — one near the start of the war and another earlier this year — lasted only a few weeks, he said; “I am very optimistic this time, maybe Trump’s seeking to be remembered as a man of peace, will bring us real peace this time.”

RESIDENT WORRIES THAT NETANYAHU WILL ‘SABOTAGE’ DEAL

Some voiced hopes of returning to their homes, but the Israeli military issued a fresh warning to Gazans on Saturday to stay out of Gaza City, describing it as a “dangerous combat zone.”

Gazans have faced previous false dawns during the past two years, when Trump and others declared at several points during on-off negotiations between Hamas, Israel and Arab and US mediators that a deal was close, only for war to rage on.

“Will it happen? Can we trust Trump? Maybe we trust Trump, but will Netanyahu abide this time? He has always sabotaged everything and continued the war. I hope he ends it now,” said Aya, 31, who was displaced with her family to Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip.

She added: “Maybe there is a chance the war ends at October 7, two years after it began.”

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Mass Rally in Rome on Fourth Day of Italy’s Pro-Palestinian Protests

A Pro-Palestinian demonstrator waves a Palestinian flag during a national protest for Gaza in Rome, Italy, October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Claudia Greco

Large crowds assembled in central Rome on Saturday for the fourth straight day of protests in Italy since Israel intercepted an international flotilla trying to deliver aid to Gaza, and detained its activists.

People holding banners and Palestinian flags, chanting “Free Palestine” and other slogans, filed past the Colosseum, taking part in a march that organizers hoped would attract at least 1 million people.

“I’m here with a lot of other friends because I think it is important for us all to mobilize individually,” Francesco Galtieri, a 65-year-old musician from Rome, said. “If we don’t all mobilize, then nothing will change.”

Since Israel started blocking the flotilla late on Wednesday, protests have sprung up across Europe and in other parts of the world, but in Italy they have been a daily occurrence, in multiple cities.

On Friday, unions called a general strike in support of the flotilla, with demonstrations across the country that attracted more than 2 million, according to organizers. The interior ministry estimated attendance at around 400,000.

Italy’s right-wing government has been critical of the protests, with Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni suggesting that people would skip work for Gaza just as an excuse for a longer weekend break.

On Saturday, Meloni blamed protesters for insulting graffiti that appeared on a statue of the late Pope John Paul II outside Rome’s main train station, where Pro-Palestinian groups have been holding a protest picket.

“They say they are taking to the streets for peace, but then they insult the memory of a man who was a true defender and builder of peace. A shameful act committed by people blinded by ideology,” she said in a statement.

Israel launched its Gaza offensive after Hamas terrorists staged a cross border attack on October 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people and taking 251 people hostage.

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Hamas Says It Agrees to Release All Israeli Hostages Under Trump Gaza Plan

Smoke rises during an Israeli military operation in Gaza City, as seen from the central Gaza Strip, October 2, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas

Hamas said on Friday it had agreed to release all Israeli hostages, alive or dead, under the terms of US President Donald Trump’s Gaza proposal, and signaled readiness to immediately enter mediated negotiations to discuss the details.

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