Here is yet another story illustrating why nobody trusts the media anymore. In the realm of journalism and public discourse discerning eyes can see when a media figure might have a particular agenda by looking at how they frame details of stories. This is especially true of the war between Israel and Hamas.

On Saturday, alleged journalist Eric Levitz stirred a bit of controversy when he held forth in a thread on X, formerly Twitter, on reports that Hamas terrorists had beheaded Israeli babies. He walked back an earlier remark that a report “indicated that babies were beheaded” by Hamas militants during the terrorist group's initial assault on Israel.

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. (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). (I personally don’t think much of anything follows from this distinction; we are describing horrific atrocities in either case. But some people disagree)

According to this report, which includes corroborating images, Hamas militants tied a parent and child together and then burned them alive. https://t.co/l1kx0bFRdN

— Eric Levitz (@EricLevitz) October 22, 2023

Several other users took issue with Levitz appearing to play semantics with a senseless atrocity committed by terrorists. But what exactly is the point of dissecting language to the point that it downplays the evil acts carried out against Israeli civilians – especially babies?

The report Levitz was discussing highlighted Israeli medical professionals analyzing the corpses of Israelis killed during the initial fighting. (WARNING: The report contains graphic depictions. Additionally, some readers may find the language excerpted below disturbing.) 

Forensic pathologists, including Israeli staffers as well as volunteers from abroad, were visibly disturbed by the evidence before them. Despite every effort to remain objective and detached—as called for by the profession—many broke down into tears throughout the day.

During the initial press conference, the forensics team showed images from their investigations. Among the images were those of charred hands with marks that revealed where the victims’ hands were bound behind their backs with metal wire before being burned alive.

[...]

Kugel also explained that the age range of the victims spans from 3 months to 80 or 90 years old. Many bodies, including those of babies, are without heads.

Asked if they were decapitated, Kugel answered yes. Although he admits that, given the circumstances, it’s difficult to ascertain whether they were decapitated before or after death, as well as how they were beheaded, “whether cut off by knife or blown off by RPG,” he explained.

It is true that journalistic integrity demands accuracy. Indeed, it’s one of the problems with the current media environment in which members of the press are more focused on perpetuating narratives than informing their audience. However, in cases such as these, cutting such a fine line in describing the horrors of the war is missing the forest for the trees and essentially watering down the enormity of what is happening in Israel.

The bottom line is that Hamas is a murderous terrorist group that does not hesitate to inflict acts of brutality on anyone they see as their enemy, regardless of age or civilian status. No level of semantics will change that.