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13-10-2023
WASHINGTON: The White House backtracked a statement by US President Joe Biden saying he had seen photos of Israeli children who were beheaded by Hamas.
In an address to Jewish community leaders at the White House on Wednesday, Biden said: “I never really thought that I would see, have confirmed pictures of terrorists beheading children.”
However, later that evening, a White House official told the Washington Post that Biden had not in fact seen any pictures confirming such an incident and had based his comments on claims he heard in Israeli media reports.
On Tuesday, an Israeli army spokesperson also confirmed that the army had no proof of Hamas beheading babies, Anadolu Agency reported.
Speaking with the agency over the phone, the spokeswoman said, “We do not have any details or confirmation about that.”
The false claims have caused quite a stir on social media with hundreds of pro-Israelis sharing statements alleging that Israeli children were being brutally killed by the militant group.
This comes as European Commissioner Thierry Breton warned Elon Musk that his X social network, formerly known 
as Twitter, has done little to control the spread of illegal content and disinformation related to the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas.
In the letter, which Breton posted on the social platform, he reminded Musk that he has an obligation to take “very precise content moderation measures under the European Union’s Digital Services Act and requested a response within 24 hours.
“We have, from qualified sources, reports about potentially illegal content circulating on your service, despite flags from relevant authorities,” Breton wrote in the letter on Tuesday.
Breton cited reports of “fake and manipulated images and facts” on the platform, as well as “repurposed old images of unrelated armed conflict or military footage that actually originated from video games.”
Shayan Sardarizadeh said on X that untrue posts from verified accounts, which pay for a blue tick, had been boosted across the platform.
Other social media networks, such as Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok, have all been used as tools to spread fake and unverified videos that claim to be depicting scenes from on the ground. (Int’l News Desk)
