There is a collage of two images making its way around the social media that, if you judge by the images alone, you might conclude the whole story is made up
As I wrote in the article, I am not editorializing in this article about the situation like I have done in other articles where I have debunked false claims. Here I only wanted to point out that not every time an image is used inappropriately or is fake (AI) does it mean the entire report is fake.
But just like Haaretz has some good articles in it even though the site comes precariously close to being anti-Zionist, the Guardian and even the BBC can occasionally have decent articles.
And their anti Zionist stances are disgusting. I stopped reading Haaretz and limit my reading because it makes me sick. French news on Israel Gaza and the "Muslim Brotherhood report" makes me nauseous. EU is going out of line. It's insanity.
Too many Gazans have vigorously declared that they WANT their children to die as martyrs for me to be too concerned about 9 children out of a family being killed. Were they in a deep Hamas bunker under the hospital? Were they employed in guarding one of the few surviving Israeli hostages of October 7, 2023? The IDF has been pretty clear; their goal is to utterly eliminate Hamas, and that's a goal that I can completely support.
I agree with you. As I wrote in the article, I am not editorializing about the situation -- it is only about whether or not all falsely used images mean the entire report is false. That is all I am making a point about. I have written other article to debunk viral posts that make false claims.
Yes. It is why whenever I see images from elsewhere or AI used to illustrate something that supposedly happened in Gaza that I assume the whole report is false. And that is why I began writing this article as if that whole incident of her losing nine of her kids as false. It is interesting that the mainstream news sites reporting on the incident did not use the fake images but real images of some of her kids and her husband.
The story appeared on the internet, not in the newspapers. The internet is famous for telling stories, just to keep you reading. Some real tear-jerkers also come from Hamas, so I am reluctant to assume guilt over any claim they might make.
Yes, losing 9 out of 10 children is a high price to pay, but why not compare it to the absolute atrocities of Oct. 7? We know those are facts, and we know the families.
The point is, there is a war going on, and it is waged on different fronts. One of those is the propaganda war, demonizing Israel, by any means. When a story of a doctor losing her children, true or false, the world gets angry with Israel. They weren't angry when tunnel-digging children died in collapses were they?
The story did appear in the newspapers, beginning with the BBC. It was more fully covered in The Guardian. I added a paragraph related to that article toward the end of mine.
I feel really sorry for the mother, it seems she has lost everything, but the IDF had been warning people for ages to move because it's a combat zone.
We might never know why the family stayed with so many little ones, but it's difficult knowing also that the same people were praising and dancing when the Israelis were murdered.
There is no way to know if the adults were innocent but the children were, so I feel conflicted about it all, but the IDF are not guilty. They have done nothing wrong. They're working in a horrible situation. 🇮🇱🇮🇱🇮🇱
My question is, how did a 35-year-old woman ever give birth to ten children in twelve years and complete her medical education and training at the same time?
I am a doctor and I think I can help you. I had a patient years ago who stated she was an Egyptian doctor. She was pregnant, I am an obstetrician. I took care of her for 4 years delivered 2 children for her and corrected the botched "female circumcision" she had suffered as a child. This woman had less education than an RN in this country. She was ignorant of everything I would assume a "doctor" would know. Her job in Egypt had been to do pap smears since women will not allow a man to look at them EVER. This Palestinian "doctor" with 10 children probably had no education or training, and probably functioned like a nurse or a midwife.
When Germany was deluged with Syrian refugees a few years ago they tried to find them work, and discovered that a Syrian university degree was roughly equivalent to a German eighth grade education. So, yeah, it makes sense.
I don't understand how this is relevant to my article. I looked at what you share and you share interesting pieces so I really want to understand how your comment is relevant to the point I tried to make in this article.
I have found that I do indeed become sceptical about an entire story if I find some false detail, but you remind me that even with false details, or carelessness in checking, the writer could still have a good point to make
Thanks for your analysis! I did som analysis myself on this story, and I think there may be a kernel of truth that has been developed using a standard propaganda formula: "add more drama and more dead children".
It is suspect that the family was staying in an area supposed to be evacuated, and also: There are many ties to Hamas in the larger Al-Najjar family. Was this a family close to Hamas who chose to ignorere the evacuation notice and even keep some children there? Was the husband being targeted as a combattant? IDF claim they struck 4 combattants and no civilians in this area.
Moreover: Nasser Hospital has strong Hamas ties (hostages were held there) and the doctors were behind the very unclear story of premature babies left to die in december 2023. It would not be surprising if propaganda stories are produced and launch at Nasser Hospital (and other hospitals).
Stories of doctors loosing part of or their whole family are very frequent in Hamas propaganda, it a whole genre unto itself.
After the story of "14.000 children will die of starvation in two days" was debunked, new dramatic story was needed.
And finally: We have not seen or heard from Alaa Al-Najjar herself. A lot of people are telling her story, but she does not even seem to be in any photos.
As with most things in this tragic horrible but necessary war there is a fog around this event which allow everyone to speculate and accuse. Even if we assume that the story is true and the children did die we have no idea as to how that came about. Was it a direct strike by a drone as the world media has rushed to claim? Unexploded munitions that went off after a nearby strike? Collateral damage of an attack
On a legitimate target? Weapons stored in the location that went off? At this point we just don’t know. What we do know is that to rush to conclusions as the world media always does leads to Israel being smeared regardless of the truth of the matter.
I really think you should be ashamed of yourselves, Ciska, Ken, Frederique, Leonard, Chrissy, Tony, Mary, Zevik, all of you!
Israeli is committing genocide, calling people terrorists because they object to being terrorised by you. Your own governments used to be full of people the world had called terrorists. Israel takes 10's of thousands hostage, holding some of them for decades, and many without trial, then calls it Administrative detention to try and make it seem somehow legal and legitimate.
Utterly, utterly, utterly shameless!
People think for themselves, that's what your problem is. They recognise what hypocrites Israelis who support this war are.
I have given up on you, and people like Ciska et al. I hope that there will prove to be Israelis who believe that truth and reconciliation is possible. It's your only path to peace.
I am skeptical of this story. Are the parents truly innocent.
As I wrote in the article, I am not editorializing in this article about the situation like I have done in other articles where I have debunked false claims. Here I only wanted to point out that not every time an image is used inappropriately or is fake (AI) does it mean the entire report is fake.
The public gets what the public wants.
Guardian and BBC are mouthpieces for Hamas and Al Jazeera. People don't think for themselves.
Many people do not; that is true.
But just like Haaretz has some good articles in it even though the site comes precariously close to being anti-Zionist, the Guardian and even the BBC can occasionally have decent articles.
Yes, I know but unfortunately it does not make up for the damage already done 😓
And their anti Zionist stances are disgusting. I stopped reading Haaretz and limit my reading because it makes me sick. French news on Israel Gaza and the "Muslim Brotherhood report" makes me nauseous. EU is going out of line. It's insanity.
Too many Gazans have vigorously declared that they WANT their children to die as martyrs for me to be too concerned about 9 children out of a family being killed. Were they in a deep Hamas bunker under the hospital? Were they employed in guarding one of the few surviving Israeli hostages of October 7, 2023? The IDF has been pretty clear; their goal is to utterly eliminate Hamas, and that's a goal that I can completely support.
I agree with you. As I wrote in the article, I am not editorializing about the situation -- it is only about whether or not all falsely used images mean the entire report is false. That is all I am making a point about. I have written other article to debunk viral posts that make false claims.
And I support what you support.
Often images from other incidents in Syria etc are transferred over to Gaza which is why this is such a minefield
Yes. It is why whenever I see images from elsewhere or AI used to illustrate something that supposedly happened in Gaza that I assume the whole report is false. And that is why I began writing this article as if that whole incident of her losing nine of her kids as false. It is interesting that the mainstream news sites reporting on the incident did not use the fake images but real images of some of her kids and her husband.
The story appeared on the internet, not in the newspapers. The internet is famous for telling stories, just to keep you reading. Some real tear-jerkers also come from Hamas, so I am reluctant to assume guilt over any claim they might make.
Yes, losing 9 out of 10 children is a high price to pay, but why not compare it to the absolute atrocities of Oct. 7? We know those are facts, and we know the families.
The point is, there is a war going on, and it is waged on different fronts. One of those is the propaganda war, demonizing Israel, by any means. When a story of a doctor losing her children, true or false, the world gets angry with Israel. They weren't angry when tunnel-digging children died in collapses were they?
The story did appear in the newspapers, beginning with the BBC. It was more fully covered in The Guardian. I added a paragraph related to that article toward the end of mine.
I did see Reuters carried the story, but I regret ever having trusted them.
I feel really sorry for the mother, it seems she has lost everything, but the IDF had been warning people for ages to move because it's a combat zone.
We might never know why the family stayed with so many little ones, but it's difficult knowing also that the same people were praising and dancing when the Israelis were murdered.
There is no way to know if the adults were innocent but the children were, so I feel conflicted about it all, but the IDF are not guilty. They have done nothing wrong. They're working in a horrible situation. 🇮🇱🇮🇱🇮🇱
Thank you Chrissy for your moral clarity
Wise
My question is, how did a 35-year-old woman ever give birth to ten children in twelve years and complete her medical education and training at the same time?
I am a doctor and I think I can help you. I had a patient years ago who stated she was an Egyptian doctor. She was pregnant, I am an obstetrician. I took care of her for 4 years delivered 2 children for her and corrected the botched "female circumcision" she had suffered as a child. This woman had less education than an RN in this country. She was ignorant of everything I would assume a "doctor" would know. Her job in Egypt had been to do pap smears since women will not allow a man to look at them EVER. This Palestinian "doctor" with 10 children probably had no education or training, and probably functioned like a nurse or a midwife.
Now THAT makes sense. Thank you. What this means is that we should take every claim of being a doctor in Gaza with a grain of salt.
Since you have your own Substack newsletter, perhaps you could write this up as an article -- I think more people should be aware of this phenomenon.
Don't get sick in Egypt
not planning on it.
When Germany was deluged with Syrian refugees a few years ago they tried to find them work, and discovered that a Syrian university degree was roughly equivalent to a German eighth grade education. So, yeah, it makes sense.
This is heartbreaking. I don’t understand how many cry for Gazans but fail to grieve for Israelis. One sided sympathy is a despicable fraud.
I don't understand how this is relevant to my article. I looked at what you share and you share interesting pieces so I really want to understand how your comment is relevant to the point I tried to make in this article.
Thank you Sheri for making a very important point
I have found that I do indeed become sceptical about an entire story if I find some false detail, but you remind me that even with false details, or carelessness in checking, the writer could still have a good point to make
Thank you for getting my point. So many others seemed not to.
Thanks for your analysis! I did som analysis myself on this story, and I think there may be a kernel of truth that has been developed using a standard propaganda formula: "add more drama and more dead children".
It is suspect that the family was staying in an area supposed to be evacuated, and also: There are many ties to Hamas in the larger Al-Najjar family. Was this a family close to Hamas who chose to ignorere the evacuation notice and even keep some children there? Was the husband being targeted as a combattant? IDF claim they struck 4 combattants and no civilians in this area.
Moreover: Nasser Hospital has strong Hamas ties (hostages were held there) and the doctors were behind the very unclear story of premature babies left to die in december 2023. It would not be surprising if propaganda stories are produced and launch at Nasser Hospital (and other hospitals).
Stories of doctors loosing part of or their whole family are very frequent in Hamas propaganda, it a whole genre unto itself.
After the story of "14.000 children will die of starvation in two days" was debunked, new dramatic story was needed.
And finally: We have not seen or heard from Alaa Al-Najjar herself. A lot of people are telling her story, but she does not even seem to be in any photos.
My analysis is in Danish, I'm afraid, but some links and materials may be interesting: https://hadassahlaura.substack.com/p/lgens-10-brn-og-den-store-fede-propagandahistori
As with most things in this tragic horrible but necessary war there is a fog around this event which allow everyone to speculate and accuse. Even if we assume that the story is true and the children did die we have no idea as to how that came about. Was it a direct strike by a drone as the world media has rushed to claim? Unexploded munitions that went off after a nearby strike? Collateral damage of an attack
On a legitimate target? Weapons stored in the location that went off? At this point we just don’t know. What we do know is that to rush to conclusions as the world media always does leads to Israel being smeared regardless of the truth of the matter.
I really think you should be ashamed of yourselves, Ciska, Ken, Frederique, Leonard, Chrissy, Tony, Mary, Zevik, all of you!
Israeli is committing genocide, calling people terrorists because they object to being terrorised by you. Your own governments used to be full of people the world had called terrorists. Israel takes 10's of thousands hostage, holding some of them for decades, and many without trial, then calls it Administrative detention to try and make it seem somehow legal and legitimate.
Utterly, utterly, utterly shameless!
People think for themselves, that's what your problem is. They recognise what hypocrites Israelis who support this war are.
There you are again, Nigel. I was wondering if you had given up on me/us.
I have given up on you, and people like Ciska et al. I hope that there will prove to be Israelis who believe that truth and reconciliation is possible. It's your only path to peace.
I should have said 'enough Israelis and Palestinians'.
Better still, 'enough people'.