Karoline Leavitt Rips BBC Over Reporting on Israeli Shootings: ‘We Don’t Take the Word of Hamas’
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt lit into the British Broadcasting Company over some of its recent reporting about shootings of Palestinians trying to get aid from the U.S.-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF).
“There are now reports that Israeli forces are firing on Palestinians trying to get aid from the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation. After 20 people, according to the Red Cross, have arrived at the hospital that they’ve set up with gunshot wounds, have died from them. Is this administration aware of this? I mean, what is being done to address this?” a reporter asked Leavitt.
“The administration is aware of those reports, and we are currently looking into the veracity of them because unfortunately, unlike some in the media, we don’t take the word of Hamas as total truth. We like to look into it when they speak, unlike the BBC, who had multiple headlines,” Leavitt fumed, before reading off some recent BBC headlines:
They wrote, “Israeli tank kills 26,” “Israeli tank kills 21,” “Israeli gunfire kills 31,” “Red Cross says 21 people were killed in an aide incident” and then oh wait they had to correct and take down their entire story saying we reviewed the footage and couldn’t find any evidence of anything.
Oh, okay, so we’re gonna look into reports before we confirm them from this podium or before we take action, and I suggest that journalists who actually care about truth do the same to reduce the amount of misinformation that’s going around the globe on this front.
While the BBC did not issue an official correction or take down their reporting, Leavitt is correct that the headlines, “Israeli tank kills 26,” “Israeli tank kills 21,” and “Israeli gunfire kills 31,” no longer appear on their website. Instead, those headlines were affixed to a running live blog from May 31st, which now is headlined, “Israel denies firing at civilians after Hamas-run ministry says 31 killed in Gaza aid centre attack.”
“A local Palestinian journalist told the BBC that Israeli tanks opened fire near an aid centre. A medic says he is treating people with bullet or shrapnel wounds,” notes the live blog, which still reports witness accounts of Israeli tank fire. The live blog also still includes a crosshead for an update that reads, “At least 26 killed amid Israeli tank fire near Gaza aid centre, rescuers say.”
BBC Verify, additionally, addressed the topic on June 2nd and noted that none of the accounts of Israeli troops firing have been independently confirmed. “It’s extremely complicated because we have conflicting reports from multiple sources, which include the Israeli army, the local Hamas-run health authority and the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation,” reported the BBC’s Merlyn Thomas.
Watch the clip above via Fox News.
