WaPo apologizes for publishing Hamas propaganda at face value

The Washington Post issued a correction Tuesday, saying it published an article that failed to give Israeli denials of claims made by the radical Islamic terrorist group Hamas “proper weight.”

Multiple outlets reported on an alleged killing of at least 26 people by the Israeli Defense Forces at an aid distribution center. In a post on X, the Washington Post said its earlier versions of the article on the alleged incident and a previous post “didn’t meet Post fairness standards.”

“Early versions of the article on Sunday stated that Israeli troops had killed more than 30 people near a U.S. aid site in Gaza, with the headline attributing the action to ‘health officials.’ The article failed to make clear if attributing the deaths to Israel was the position of the Gaza health ministry or a fact verified by The Post,” the newspaper said in the post. “The article and headline were updated on Sunday evening, making it clear that there was no consensus about who was responsible for the shootings and that there was a dispute over that question.”

“While statements from Israel that it was unaware of injuries and that an initial inquiry indicated its soldiers didn’t fire at civilians near the site were included in all versions, The Post didn’t give proper weight to Israel’s denial and gave improper certitude about what was known about any Israeli role in the shootings,” the Washington Post continued. “The early versions fell short of Post standards of fairness and should not have been published in that form.”

Israel has carried out military operations in Gaza since Hamas carried out a deadly terrorist attack on multiple locations in southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, that killed over 1,200 people. The radical Islamic terrorist group also took over 200 hostages.