Tipsheet

CBS News Makes Death of Shiri Bibas and Her Young Children That Much Worse

Rebecca Downs
Rebecca Downs  |  February 27, 2025 6:15 PM

On Wednesday, as Guy covered, Yarden Bibas euologized his wife, Shiri, and their young sons, Kfir and Ariel. All were taken hostage by Hamas on October 7, 2023 during the attack on Israel. While Yarden returned home on February 1 as part of a hostage/prisoner swap, Shiri and their children did not make it home alive, having been murdered in Gaza while being held captive. Kfir was only 10-months old when he was killed and Ariel was only 4-years-old, the children having been killed with "bare hands." CBS News, though, managed to add insult to injury with how they framed the victims' tragic deaths.

A post from the CBS News X account, which shared footage from Yarden's euology, describes Shiri, Ariel, and Kfir as having "died while being held captive by Hamas," as if it could have been an illness or accident that led to their deaths. 

Although such a post was not ratioed, it still garnered 2,600 replies and quoted reposts as well, as Brett T. at our sister site of Twitchy highlighted. 

CBS News is not even the only outlet to use such problematic phrasing, though. There's also the Associated Press, which upon Shiri Bibas' body being returned to Israel last weekend, described her and her sons as having "died in captivity." Hamas had added insult to injury with Shiri's murder by sending back the wrong body last Thursday, as, in addition to her sons, they sent back the body of a random Palestinian woman. The AP, which as Townhall has been covering, has had numerous problems with covering Israel, antisemitism, and the Israel-Hamas war, especially since their reporters were among those embedded with Hamas for the October 7 attack.

Such a post came days after the AP peddled pro-Hamas propaganda by claiming before the Bibas' family's deaths were even confirmed by forensic analysis. As a post from last Thursday claimed, Shiri "and her two children... were long feared dead," though the family did not want to give up hope until such fears were confirmed.

Hamas had claimed that Shiri and her children were killed by an Israeli airstrike. The young boys' bodies were even mutilated with rocks after they were killed to make it seem as if they died as a result of an airstrike. 

CBS News, also on Wednesday, actually put out a new post about Yarden's eulogy, accurately reflecting that his wife and children "were killed." Such a post came two minutes after the previous one, though it has received far less attention.

The original post has been viewed close to 890,000 times, with those 2,600 replies and 5,000 likes, as well as over 1,000 reposts and quoted reposts. The second one, however, has only been viewed less than 20,000 times, with just 38 replies and 55 likes, as well as 12 reposts and quoted reposts.