Greg Bouwer
IINZ
On June 27, Haaretz published an exposé alleging that Israeli soldiers were ordered to fire on unarmed civilians waiting for food aid in Gaza. The story, headlined with emotive language and loaded accusations, has since spread rapidly across Western media channels. Yet upon close examination, it is not just flawed – it is a masterclass in disinformation, mistranslation, and agenda-driven journalism.
The Central Claim – and Its Collapse
Haaretz alleged that the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) created a “killing field” near aid distribution sites, supposedly deploying heavy weapons – machine guns, mortars, and grenade launchers – against civilians. Yet even their own quoted sources contradict this imagery. The article cites between one to five casualties per day – hardly the toll of the mass slaughter implied.
As Andrew Fox, military expert and former British Army officer, points out in his Substack rebuttal, such low figures are “not a massacre… perhaps of Gazans, but certainly of journalistic standards”. He underscores that if the IDF were using heavy arms to target unarmed crowds intentionally, the fatalities would be far higher.
Mistranslation as Manipulation
One of the most glaring acts of deception lies in Haaretz’s own words. The English version of the article claims soldiers were ordered to fire “at” Palestinians. But the original Hebrew version uses the phrase “toward” – a critical distinction. “Firing toward” implies crowd dispersal or warning shots. “Firing at” implies intentional targeting and lethal force.
As analyst Eitan Fischberger exposed in this X post, this was not a mistranslation – it was editorial malpractice. It deliberately alters the meaning to suit an international audience predisposed to outrage.
Debunked by Open Source Intelligence
OSINT researcher Salo Aizenberg has published a meticulous thread here and a follow-up geolocating the alleged incidents and exposing critical inconsistencies. Using satellite imagery and video stills, he shows that:
- The aid site layouts contradict Haaretz’s framing.
- The IDF perimeter makes indiscriminate firing implausible.
- Crowd congestion, not military assault, explains many injuries.
In a further post, Aizenberg identifies Haaretz’s quoted “witnesses” as linked to Hamas-controlled bodies, and confirms that one individual never even referenced the events Haaretz attributes to him.
The Unasked Questions
The Haaretz article fails to explore several crucial points:
- If the IDF controls the area, why are IDF soldiers being wounded near the aid sites?
- Could Hamas be staging attacks to disrupt Israeli aid and blame the IDF?
- Why is there no verified video of these alleged massacres, given Gaza’s ubiquitous cell phone footage?
Even Haaretz admits: “There were also fatalities and injuries among IDF soldiers in these incidents.” That admission alone contradicts the claim that no threat was present.
The Role of HonestReporting
As Simon Plosker of HonestReporting has summarised, this is not the first time Haaretz has functioned as a conduit for defamatory narratives against Israel. Published in both Hebrew and English, the newspaper’s English edition often appears tailored to elicit global condemnation, not inform a domestic Israeli audience.
HonestReporting’s official summary has helped amplify factual rebuttals to international audiences misled by legacy media.
Not Journalism – Information Warfare
It is not the role of journalism to mislead through omission, mistranslation, or ideological bias. It is certainly not journalism to quote Hamas-linked actors without disclosing affiliations, or to repeat unverified claims from Gaza’s propaganda machinery while ignoring Hamas’s repeated disruptions of humanitarian aid.
This story is a narrative – one designed to demonise the IDF and, by extension, Israel’s legitimacy in wartime self-defence. That it has spread so quickly without verification is a damning indictment of Western media’s appetite for outrage over truth.
Haaretz may claim to be Israeli, but in this case, it is acting as a foreign agent of disinformation. The real casualties here are journalistic standards – and the truth.
References
- Plosker, Simon. “The Haaretz Killing Field Where Journalism Goes to Die.” HonestReporting, June 29, 2025. Link
- Fox, Andrew. “Haaretz: The Lies Continue.” Andrew Fox’s Substack, June 28, 2025. Link
- Aizenberg, Salo. “Debunking ‘Killing Fields’.” X, June 2025. Link
- Aizenberg, Salo. Geolocation of Haaretz Claims. X, June 2025. Link
- Aizenberg, Salo. Witness Source Exposure. X, June 2025. Link
- Fischberger, Eitan. Mistranslation Revealed. X, June 2025. Link
- HonestReporting. Haaretz Killing Field Libel. X, June 2025. Link
This article was originally published by the Israel Institute of New Zealand.
