We are disappointed by The Connecticut Mirror’s decision to publish Alan Stein’s factually inaccurate Dec. 4 opinion piece, “In the midst of the Gaza nightmare, a light flickers, then dies,” in which Stein repeats unsubstantiated and inflammatory claims about Hamas’s conduct on Oct. 7 and the Palestinian prisoners exchanged in the Nov. 24 deal.
Stein claims that children were “beheaded on Oct. 7,” a claim that has been widely repeated to justify Israel’s genocidal assault on Gaza but which has little evidence outside of uncorroborated statements by Israeli politicians and IDF personnel. Haaretz, in a Dec. 4 story, cites the proliferation of unverified stories and conflicting testimony about babies beheaded or otherwise mutilated on Oct. 7, while the The Washington Post, in a Nov. 22 fact-checking piece, urges caution about repeating the ‘beheaded babies’ claim, observing that “details are still sparse.”
The Post also notes the comments of numerous scholars and Hamas experts who testified that the group has no history of beheadings — although such behavior would fit well with Israel’s disinformation campaign to link Hamas with unrelated Islamist groups like ISIS, who do engage in beheadings.
Stein goes on to describe how other children on Oct. 7 “had their limbs torn off so their Hamas torturers could enjoy watching them bleed to death.” Again, is there any evidence of this — of either the willful amputation of children’s limbs, or the purported sadistic motivations of...
Sean 'Diddy' Combs has once again found his name linked to extraordinary allegations, after a civil lawsuit revived a bizarre conspiracy theory about a supposed sex trafficking tunnel beneath his ...