When HonestReporting was founded 25 years ago, it was clear that there was a need to expose and fight media bias against Israel.
But the extent of the libels the Jewish state would face could not have been dreamed of back then.
The international media spread – and in many cases invented – outrageous and destructive misinformation and disinformation.
HonestReporting was there to set the record straight.
This list of the 25 worst false accusations against Israel over the past quarter century was compiled with the help of veteran diplomats and journalists who dealt with them in real time. Please send us key incidents that could be added to the list.
Supporters of Israel can do their part to prevent – or at least combat the libels that are sure to come in the 25 years ahead.
Here they are in chronological order:
1. The Photo That Started It All, September 30, 2000
HonestReporting began its mission by taking on The New York Times over a photo it published of a young man — bloodied and battered — crouching beneath a club-wielding Israeli policeman. The caption identified him as a Palestinian victim — with the clear implication that the Israeli soldier was the one who beat him.
The effort to fix the incorrect reporting started with the boy’s father writing a letter to the Times, explaining the truth about his son, Tuvia Grossman, a Jewish student from Chicago who was pulled from his Jerusalem taxi by a mob of Arabs who beat and stabbed him. A half-hearted correction was issued about “an American student in Israel” — not a Jew beaten by Arabs.
Only after additional public outrage did the Times reprint Grossman’s picture — this time with the proper caption — along with a full article detailing his near-lynching by Palestinians.
2. Mohammed Al-Dura, September 30, 2000
The image of the 12-year-old Gazan crouching next to his father behind a barrel, caught in the crossfire, became the defining image of the Second Intifada.
Israel was accused of killing al-Dura based on heavily edited footage of a Palestinian cameraman working for France 2 TV and its reporter Charles Enderlin.
No proof was ever presented that al-Dura was killed by the IDF, who were not positioned in the line of fire. But the damage to Israel’s reputation was done.
3. Durban, South Africa Conference, August 31 to September 8, 2001
The United Nations World Conference against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance did not accomplish the lofty goals of its title. The American and Israeli delegations ended up leaving after it was used to promote an anti-Israel, antisemitic agenda.
A conference of non-governmental organizations held alongside the main forum overwhelmingly adopted a resolution calling Israel “a racist apartheid state,” guilty of the “systematic perpetration of racist crimes including war crimes, acts of genocide and ethnic cleansing … and state terror against the Palestinian people.”
A paragraph condemning antisemitism was removed from the resolution.
In the eyes of many, the Durban Conference was the worst display of antisemitism since World War 2 and kicked off the campaign to exploit the language of anti-racism and human rights to demonize and isolate the world’s only Jewish State. The impact of this so-called ‘Durban Strategy’ is felt to this day: experts trace the roots of the ongoing Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement back to the 2001 gathering.
4. 9/11 Conspiracy Theories
Conspiracy theorists have falsely claimed that Jews organized the September 11, 2001, attacks, with Israel’s support. Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said in August 2010 that no “Zionists” were killed in the World Trade Center, because “one day earlier they were told not to go to their workplace.” He said the attacks were exaggerated as an excuse for the US to invade Afghanistan and Iraq.
The truth was that the proportion of Jews living in New York approximately matched the proportion of Jews among the victims. The first victim was Israeli-American Daniel Lewin, who was killed trying to stop terrorists on American Airlines Flight 11.
5. “Jenin Massacre,” April 2002
Media outlets reported about a massacre of hundreds (or thousands, according to some initial CNN reports) of Palestinian civilians in Jenin. The Independent claimed there were “hundreds of corpses, entombed beneath the dust.”
In fact, at most 14 Palestinian civilians died (together with 23 Israeli soldiers). This was far fewer than the hundreds of Israeli civilians killed in Israeli towns by suicide bombers dispatched from Jenin in a wave of attacks that Israel was trying to prevent from continuing.
6. Arafat Death Conspiracy Theories, November 2004
The Palestinian leader and arch-terrorist’s widow claimed he was poisoned to death with radioactive polonium in a political assassination.
The 75-year-old Arafat died in France from a massive stroke. His body was exhumed in 2012 for tests but a subsequent French investigation found no proof of poisoning.
7. Gaza Beach Libel, June 2006
Top international media outlets rushed to blame Israel for the deaths of seven Palestinian civilians on a beach in Gaza.
Investigations by the IDF and others revealed evidence that a Hamas mine was most likely the cause of the beach blast.
8. IDF Soldiers Racist Because They Don’t Rape Palestinian Women, December 2007
Al Jazeera’s false charges in this current Gaza war that Israeli soldiers raped Palestinian women are a stark contrast with the charge in 2007 that IDF soldiers were racist for NOT raping them.
The canard initially came from a prize-winning Hebrew University academic paper that alleged rapes did not occur in the West Bank because Arab women are dehumanized in the soldiers’ eyes. Media outlets then spread the libel.
9. Goldstone Report, April 2009
When South African judge Richard Goldstone’s report for the UN accused Israel of crimes against humanity and deliberately targeting civilians in Gaza, it received massive coverage all over the world. But when Goldstone retracted the report and said he no longer believes Gazan civilians were deliberately targeted as a matter of Israeli policy, The Guardian and other media outlets continued to cite the report years later in articles condemning Israel.
10. Palestinian Organ Harvesting, August 2009
Swedish newspaper Aftonbladet’s story accusing the IDF of harvesting Palestinian organs caused an uproar. Donald Bostrom, the author of the offensive piece, duly demonstrated his utter lack of any basic journalistic standards when he said: “But whether it’s true or not – I have no idea, I have no clue.” On top of this, the story was further undermined as one of the Palestinian families interviewed said they never told any reporter that their son was missing organs.
With the credibility of the story in tatters, one might have expected the outrageous accusations to have a limited shelf-life or to disappear altogether. However, the Swedish blood libel is a textbook case study of how what starts as an article published in a language read by few from a country of limited international influence can turn into a poison that spreads much wider, especially if it targets Israel.
11. Mavi Marmara, May 31, 2010
When Israel intercepted a ship aiming to violate a lawful maritime blockade of Hamas-controlled Gaza, its soldiers were attacked with knives, bats, and pipes. But the media parroted the Turkish side of the story and made Israel look like the aggressor. Coverage characterized the flotilla as a peaceful mission, downplaying the involvement of activists who violently resisted the Israeli navy’s interception and were not seeking to deliver aid but to confront Israel. The initial negative portrayals influenced public opinion and international perception of the event, creating a narrative that took years to repair.
12. A Zoo Full of Animal Conspiracies, December 2010
Some conspiracy theories are so laughable that it is obvious to the intelligent reader why they should be immediately dismissed. Unfortunately, when it comes to those involving Israel, such conspiracy theories seem to take on a life of their own, driven by antisemitism and hatred.
In December 2010, The Scotsman blamed the Mossad for shark attacks in the Egyptian resort of Sharm-el-Sheikh. In August 2015, Hamas claimed to have captured a dolphin equipped with spying devices off the shore of the Gaza Strip.
Media have also accused Jewish “settlers” of releasing wild pigs to scare and attack Palestinians and Israel of operating vultures, kestrels, and eagles.
In January 2023, the elder of a West Bank Arab village told Al-Hayat Al-Jadida that he found cows that are “recruited and trained” spies for the Jewish state — or, as some social media users suggested, the secretive Moossad agency.
13. Sterilization of Ethiopian Jewish women, December 2012
After a three-year investigation, Israel’s state comptroller found no evidence validating reports that female Ethiopian immigrants had been compelled to take birth control injections to complete the immigration process or after they had become Israeli citizens.
After the first reports about the allegations emerged in the Israeli press, a number of international media outlets picked up the story and some embellished it by falsely claiming that Israel had “admitted” to administering birth control without the patients’ consent. Too many media outlets never updated their stories to include the comptroller’s findings or published updated articles to set the record straight, and pro-Israel speakers around the world continue to be asked to this day if Israel sterilizes black women.
14. Israel Falsely Accused of Using Mystery Weapons, September 2014
Israel has repeatedly been accused not only of using disproportionate force but also of employing diabolical and sometimes even secret weapons against its enemies.
Back in October 2006, Robert Fisk used the front page of The Independent to spread the libel that Israel had used uranium-based weapons in southern Lebanon.
In 2014, media outlets reported that Israel used Dense Inert Metal Explosive (DIME) experimental weapons in Gaza. Al Jazeera reported that such weapons caused more than 300 serious injuries, leading to 62 amputations and 200 deaths
Israel provided evidence refuting that it used DIME or other weapons that other Western armies lack. In some cases, weapons Israel was accused of using proved not to even exist.
15. Poisoning Palestinian Water Libel, June 2016
In a speech to the European Parliament that attracted wide media coverage, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas accused Israeli rabbis of “demanding that their government poison the water to kill the Palestinians.”
He retracted the allegation two days later. His office clarified that “he did not intend to harm Judaism or the Jewish people, in accordance with the deep respect he feels for all religions, including Judaism.” But the accusation has continued to be made since then.
16. AP/Al Jazeera Tower, May 2021
When the IDF destroyed a building in Gaza that housed the local offices of several international media outlets, including Associated Press and Al Jazeera, it did not initially explain why.
This led to reports around the world that made Israel look terrible. The U.S. State Department tweeted that “ensuring the safety and security of journalists and independent media is a paramount responsibility,” even though Israel gave time for all journalists and everyone else to evacuate the building and no one was hurt.
Only after the war ended, and media outlets were no longer paying attention, did the IDF reveal that the tower was a legitimate military target, because Hamas’ intelligence unit had been operating there and used it to jam the Iron Dome missile defense system.
17. Temple Mount Misrepresentations, 2000-Present
The media have repeatedly fallen into the trap of falsely accusing Israel of changing the status quo on the Temple Mount, often resulting in avoidable violence.
It happened when then-Likud leader Ariel Sharon visited the holiest site in Judaism and was falsely blamed for sparking the Second Intifada, which had been planned for months. Media outlets reported incorrectly that the IDF opened fire on worshippers at the Al-Aqsa Mosque in April 2023, which led to the murders of the Dee family and an Italian tourist.
Hamas justified slaughtering 1,200 Israelis by calling it operation “Al-Aqsa Flood” and claiming that Israel intended to “Judaize” the mosque because Jews visited the Temple Mount during Sukkot. By repeating the framing that a Jew praying at or even simply visiting his holiest site is a threat to Muslims – the media feed the propaganda machine that fuels antisemitic violence.
18. Al Ahli Hospital, October 17, 2023
The international media reported Hamas’ false claims that Israel had purposely bombed a hospital, killing 500 people (Sky News even said 750).
It took hours for Israel to prove, using Iron Dome radar, that it had not fired in the vicinity. The hospital parking lot was hit by an errant Islamic Jihad rocket fired from the cemetery next door. The hospital was not damaged, and European intelligence officials later estimated the death toll at no more than 50. But media outlets continue to report that Israel bombed the hospital.
19. Genocide Accusations to ICJ, December 2023
The media have mischaracterized the International Court of Justice’s ruling in a case against Israel brought by South Africa, parroting the claims of politically-motivated human rights organizations.
Joan Donoghue, who headed the ICJ at the time, clarified that her court “did not decide – and this is something where I’m correcting what’s often said in the media – it didn’t decide that the claim of genocide was plausible.”
Joan Donoghue, former President of the International Court of Justice, clarified on air with @BBCNews that the court did *not* decide that Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza could plausibly be considered genocide. pic.twitter.com/oz1lOCUMD6
— HonestReporting (@HonestReporting) April 26, 2024
In another mistake, the media misinterpreted the court’s ruling that the IDF must “immediately halt its military offensive, and any other action in the Rafah governorate which may inflict on the Palestinian group in Gaza conditions of life that could bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part.”
Despite what was reported, this meant that the IDF did not need to halt the war. It only needed to refrain from steps that could bring about the destruction of the Palestinian people.
20. Al Jazeera Accuses IDF of Raping Gazans, March 2024
Qatar’s state propaganda channel spread a malicious libel about Israeli soldiers raping Palestinian women in Shifa Hospital before quietly removing the story and trying to silently bury it.
Al Jazeera Arabic’s principal news presenter, Elsy Abi Assi, interviewed on live TV a Gazan woman who made the charge, which spread like wildfire on social media.
Later that night, Yasser Abuhilalah, an Al Jazeera columnist and former director, tweeted that a Hamas investigation into the allegations had concluded they were untrue and that the woman had justified her on-air deception by saying she had exaggerated her claims in order to “arouse the nation’s fervor and brotherhood.”
Former managing editor of Al Jazeera: allegations of rape at Shifa were all made up, designed to whip up public anger. pic.twitter.com/WjupfO8l1E
— Eylon Levy (@EylonALevy) March 25, 2024
21. False Gaza Fatalities, July 2024
Medical journal The Lancet claimed that as many as 186,000 Gazans had been killed in the war, which was then adopted by many media outlets. The casualty claims came not from a peer-reviewed study but from a letter sent to The Lancet, whose writers included at least one with a history of defending Palestinian terrorism.
This is how false info spreads:
1. @TheLancet publishes claims of 186,000 deaths in Gaza.
2. Media republish the false figure, ignoring the author’s prior justification of terrorism.
3. Israel is blamed for countless deaths that didn’t happen.https://t.co/rZmDKxjFP3 pic.twitter.com/Czc9daYP7m— HonestReporting (@HonestReporting) July 8, 2024
Six months later, The Lancet published a study claiming the Gaza death toll may have been underreported by 41% written by an author who justified the October 7 massacre. Like other media outlets, The Lancet relied on faulty Hamas sources.
Many media outlets are buzzing about a new @TheLancet study claiming Gaza deaths are undercounted by 41%.
I’ll leave the number-crunching to others, but it’s worth noting that most of the study’s authors are radically anti-Israel—which is already cause to doubt their analysis 🧵 pic.twitter.com/F45XcZvYIh
— Eitan Fischberger (@EFischberger) January 10, 2025
22. BBC 14,000 Babies Claim, May 2025
UN humanitarian chief Tom Fletcher said on BBC Radio that “14,000 babies will die in the next 48 hours unless we can reach them.” When the interviewer challenged Fletcher’s statement, he said the UN had “strong teams on the ground” in Gaza.
The UN’s humanitarian chief claims, without providing evidence, that 14,000 Gazan babies could die in the next 48 hours.
That would be some 27% of the total alleged death toll for this entire war. All babies. All within 48 hours.
This is how anti-Israel libels are spread. https://t.co/io5FJ80Eew pic.twitter.com/FlVqbNXnNh
— HonestReporting (@HonestReporting) May 20, 2025
He had no methodology and no data. But this grotesque and easily disprovable claim was immediately reported by media outlets around the world, including The New York Times, NBC, ABC, Time, and The Guardian.
23. NY Times “Starving Babies,” July 2025
The New York Times put on its front page a moving photo of a skeletal child, Muhammad Zakariya Ayyoub al-Matouq, cradled in his mother’s arms. The photo, taken by a photographer for a Turkish news agency, looked like a gut-wrenching snapshot of starvation in Gaza.
The underlying message was that Israel was deliberately starving Gazan children.
It took five days of pressure from the Israeli consulate in New York and organizations like HonestReporting for The Times to admit their mistake in a correction it tried its best to hide.
Even the correction stood behind the underlying message against Israel conveyed by running the photo in the first place, and praised its reporters and photographers who got the story wrong for their bravery and sensitivity.
24. IDF Killing Gazans Indiscriminately at GHF Sites, Summer 2025
Citing the United Nations, media reported that nearly 2,000 Gazans have been killed obtaining food over a three-month period.
The truth is, the Gaza Humanitarian Fund (GHF) is cutting through Hamas’ interference and providing real, life-saving aid to civilians in Gaza. It faces immense operational challenges because Hamas continues to pose security threats that complicate aid distribution. Despite this, the IDF is working to ensure food and medical supplies reach civilians safely and efficiently.
Soldiers who guarded the area around the sites called the numbers far-fetched.
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25. Targeting Journalists, August 2025
Almost all foreign media outlets mourned the death of Al Jazeera reporter Anas al-Sharif in an IDF strike, while doubting or altogether omitting hard evidence presented by the IDF proving that he was a commander of a terrorist cell in a Hamas guided rockets platoon.
Western press have eaten up Al Jazeera *cough* Hamas propaganda over Anas al-Sharif’s elimination by the IDF.
Here’s a 🧵 of some of the most egregious coverage. https://t.co/zrgp91N4EP
— HonestReporting (@HonestReporting) August 12, 2025
Barely any media outlets mentioned that al-Sharif was not the first terrorist who posed as a journalist in Gaza, perhaps in an attempt to hide the fact that it is a common phenomenon — from CNN’s Hassan Eslaiah to Al Jazeera’s Ismail Al Ghoul, among others.
The false accusations that Israel purposely targets journalists have continued.
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