Yale Daily News Denies Confirmed Reports of Hamas’ Rape and Beheading of Israelis

Isaac SchorrOct 30th, 2023, 3:15 pm
 
Yale University

Pradipta Mitra / Wikimedia Commons

The Yale Daily News affixed an erroneous editor’s note to a column about Hamas’ attack on Israel earlier this month, calling the claim that Hamas raped and beheaded innocent Israelis “unsubstantiated.”

The note, which was added on October 25 – nearly two weeks after it was first published – reads “this column has been edited to remove unsubstantiated claims that Hamas raped women and beheaded men.”

Originally, the article included the excerpt “Yes, they raped women. Yes, they kidnapped children. Yes, they beheaded men. Yes, they cheered the whole time. It’s all on video.”

The second and third sentences were removed in the revised version, which was changed long after the original reports of rape and beheadings had been confirmed.

An Oct. 15 Reuters report confirmed that forensic experts who had examined victims’ bodies “found multiple signs of torture, rape and other atrocities.”

Footage shared with journalists, but that has not been released to the public, also evidence the claim that Hamas’ murderous rampage included rape, and an Israeli official working in a morgue told the media that she had seen “evidence of mass rape so brutal that they broke their victims’ pelvis – women, grandmothers, children.”

Officials have also confirmed that some victims were beheaded over the course of the attack, and one public video shows a member of Hamas attempting to carry one out with a garden hoe.

Online, observers reacted to the faulty editor’s note with fury.

“Who is the editor of the Yale Daily News? Joseph Goebbels?” asked Commentary Magazine‘s John Podhoretz.

“There is literally a video of Hamas decapitating a wounded man with a garden hoe,” observed National Review‘s John McCormack.

Fox News’ Jacqui Heinrich, meanwhile, said that the Daily News was “downplaying atrocities” and “providing cover for a terror org.”

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