A New York Magazine “reporter” is catching a deserved amount of backlash over on X-formerly-known-as-Twitter Monday for trying to split hairs between babies “beheaded” by Hamas, and babies who were found headless after being murdered by Hamas.
And if you’re wondering what the heck is the difference? So is everyone else.
Quote-tweeting a report by internal forensic pathologists detailing Hamas’ atrocities against innocent Israelis during their Oct. 7 surprise terrorist attack, Levitz, who writes for NY Mag's "Intelligencer," cited investigators’ horrific findings that some children were bound to their parents with ties before being burned alive. But it’s what he posted immediately afterward that landed Levitz in hot water.
“Last night, I asserted that this report indicated that babies were beheaded. This was an overstatement,” Levitz, who has written extensively against Israel's bombardment of Gaza, continued. “I should have said that the report established that babies were found headless, a fact that lends plausibility to claims of beheading, but which does not prove them.”
Last night, I asserted that this report indicated that babies were beheaded. This was an overstatement. I should have said that the report established that babies were found headless, a fact that lends plausibility to claims of beheading, but which does not prove them.
— Eric Levitz (@EricLevitz) October 22, 2023
Suffice it to say, the internet was not impressed.
Yes, I also hate when someone’s head falls off by itself with no outside force responsible.
— Kimberly Ross 🇺🇸🇺🇦🇮🇱 (@SouthernKeeks) October 22, 2023
Yeah...because babies heads just kinda fall off sometimes.
— Brandon Morse (@TheBrandonMorse) October 23, 2023
So, to be clear:
— The Culture Warrior 🐊🇺🇸🇮🇪🇬🇧 (@Culture_Fight76) October 22, 2023
1. The babies *probably* had heads at one point
2. #Hamas attacked their homes
3. The babies were then found *headless*
Do we need independently corroborated, direct sourcing before we can assess with high confidence the babies were beheaded by terrorists?
Are... are you afraid of insulting the terrorists by mischaracterizing the manner in which they removed the heads from the babies? Guarding against a slander suit, perhaps?
— Kieran Eleison (@KieranEleison) October 22, 2023
What are the natural causes for a baby to become headless?
— ניר היווני ™ 🤿 (@nir_) October 23, 2023
MRC President and Founder Brent Bozell blasted Levitz's attempt to "muddy the waters" over Hamas violence against innocent children.
The fact that Eric Levitz muddied the waters on the horrific beheading of babies by terrorists shows how afraid the leftist media are to criticize Hamas. https://t.co/bY0FwcDDmj
— Brent Bozell (@BrentBozell) October 23, 2023
Levitz later sought to clarify the difference between cutting off a person’s head post-mortem and actually murdering them by decapitation in an effort to be "accurate," writing, "(The verb behead has multiple definitions, and is sometimes used to mean decapitate; the report indicates that Hamas did behead babies in that sense. But the term can also connote a form of execution using a knife, and we do not have confirmation of beheading in this sense)."
"Many have misconstrued this tweet as an apology for Hamas. It isn't," he posted in a follow-up on Monday. "Nevertheless, the question of whether Hamas beheaded infants has been a subject of controversy...the report actually explicitly stated that the pathologists could not determine whether this happened. Rather, they said that it was possible that the infants had been mutilated by an RPG explosion. Thus, I felt an obligation as a journalist to correct that small point of fact."
"Please understand that my insistence on precision about what exactly befell these murdered innocents is rooted in a mere concern for accurately representing the findings of the forensic pathologists' report," Levitz added.
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Which leads to the inevitable question, what the heck does it matter? Hamas terrorists physically removed the heads of babies. The timing, weaponry, or manner in which it was done hardly seems like a hair worth splitting.
The leftist media’s efforts to water down Hamas’ atrocities and make them seem not quite as bad as they really were is nothing short of astounding.