Tipsheet

Reuters Sure Had a Curious Way to Describe Israeli Hostages

Rebecca Downs
Rebecca Downs  |  November 26, 2023 12:00 PM

This article has been updated to make mention of an American hostage who was released on Sunday. 

On Saturday night, the second round of those taken hostage by Hamas on October 7 were released, after a delay in the process. Those released included 13 Israelis and four Thai nationals. Those released have mostly been women and children. A now deleted post from Reuters had quite the noteworthy way of describing such people though.

Although the post no longer appears on the Reuters' X feed, screenshots with timestamps and archived versions mentioning "13 more Israeli soldiers" still exist. It also appears that a Community Notes was pending while the post was still up.

A post from Saturday indicates a "CORRECTION" was made, referring instead to "13 more Israeli hostages."

That current post links to more reporting on the release of hostages, "Hamas releases more Israeli, foreign hostages on second day of Gaza truce." Particularly telling is that Hamas is not referred to as the terrorist group that it is, but rather described as a "Palestinian militant group." The report also cites "Palestinian health authorities" for the death toll in Gaza. NSC Coordinator for Strategic Communications John Kirby has also repeatedly cautioned that any numbers provided by Hamas or "Palestinian officials" cannot be trusted.

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The Reuters report also acknowledges what either the since-deleted or current post failed to do, that those hostages released "includ[e] children and the elderly."

Reuters isn't the only one that has engaged in an epic fail with how to describe the hostages. As Matt highlighted earlier, Ireland's Leo Varadkar posted that Emily Hand, 9, was among those hostages released. In a post where he's since restricted replies and which has a Community Notes message attached, he described the situation as one where "an innocent child who was lost has now been found and returned."

Other than the problematic narratives from the mainstream media and leftist politicians, a glaring issue is that American hostages have not been among those released. This is despite how President Joe Biden has received credit for being part of the negotiations.

Even The New York Times has highlighted how no Americans hostages were among those released. As a Saturday headline warned, "No U.S. hostages are expected to be released in the next round, an official says."

It was revealed on Sunday afternoon, however, that a 4-year-old American hostage, Abigail Idan, was among hostages released on Sunday. "We continue to press and expect for additional Americans will be released as well," Biden said has part of his remarks on that day.