The harrowing 47-minute film titled Bearing Witness features footage taken from body cameras worn by Hamas terrorists, CCTV from street and home security systems, car dash cams and even the mobile phones of victims.
Described as “disturbing,” “traumatizing” and “evidence of genocide,” the film shows uncensored the horror of the October 7 massacre in southern Israel by Hamas: men and women being shot, stabbed and blown up; bodies of dead babies still lying in their cribs where they were executed; naked and brutalized corpses of women after they were gang-raped; charred remains of humans burnt beyond all recognition.
It’s the stuff of nightmares and also incontrovertible proof of the unspeakable savagery perpetrated by Hamas on innocent and unarmed civilians.
But for British left-wing activist and Guardian columnist Owen Jones, the 47 minutes apparently wasn’t enough proof.
Shortly after attending a press screening of the film in the UK, Jones uploaded a 25-minute video of himself discussing the film called, “I Watched The Hamas Massacre Film. Here Are My Thoughts” to his personal YouTube channel.
As stomach-churning as it is self-indulgent, the video shows Jones repeatedly attempting to cast doubt on certain aspects of the massacre, including the rape of women by Hamas terrorists and whether children were intentionally killed during the slaughter.
Guardian journalist Owen Jones has been criticised for questioning Hamas’ war crimes.
Watch Plank Of The Week – tonight at 7pm on TalkTV.@iromg | @BareReality | @russellquirk | @OwenJones84 pic.twitter.com/AnuJZEzoKM
— TalkTV (@TalkTV) December 1, 2023
While Jones has been censured over his abhorrent remarks — some of which he has since claimed were taken out of context — the fact remains that The Guardian’s most high-profile columnist has been a big driver of misinformation and disinformation throughout the Israel-Hamas war.
Just last week, for example, Jones appeared on ITV’s popular show Good Morning Britain to talk about the temporary ceasefire and hostage release negotiations.
At one point during the discussion, Jones falsely claimed that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had visited northern Gaza on November 29 and placed a rock that marked the first step toward the rebuilding of Israeli settlements inside the Strip.
The truth was that Netanyahu had been in southern Israel that day visiting communities that were devastated on October 7, and the rock that he laid down was, in fact, the foundation stone for a new community inside Israel to be named “Ofir,” after Ofir Libstein, the head of the Sha’ar Hanegev Regional Council, who was killed while defending his community against Hamas terrorists.
More lies from @OwenJones84 who falsely claimed on @ITV‘s @GMB that Israeli PM Netanyahu was in northern Gaza “laying a rock” for a new settlement & talking about rebuilding Gaza settlements.
Actually, Netanyahu was in the south of Israel, not northern Gaza, laying the… pic.twitter.com/AuLW5ALeSt
— HonestReporting (@HonestReporting) December 3, 2023
After HonestReporting called out Jones’s blatant lies on social media, he issued an apology in which he claimed his mistake was the result of a mistranslated tweet, while still doubling down on the pernicious and untrue charge that Israel is seeking to ethically cleanse the Gaza Strip.
Just want to correct an error I made on @GMB on Thursday.
On my way to the studios, I read this tweet which was widely circulated and understood as Benjamin Netanyahu committing to building new settlements on the Gaza Strip.
In fact it was a Google Translate error which… https://t.co/8BgBLVpbWF
— Owen Jones (@OwenJones84) December 3, 2023
Although Jones acknowledged the “life or death” consequences of spreading false information during a war, such words appear hollow considering the sheer number of times Jones has been guilty of doing so.
When the IDF uncovered evidence of a Hamas command center located within the Al-Shifa Hospital in the Gaza Strip, the army found security camera footage that showed Israeli hostages had been taken there after being abducted from Israel on October 7.
Posting clips showing terrorists armed with guns and knives dragging a person inside, Jones ludicrously claimed the footage offered proof that “injured hostages were taken there for medical treatment” by their captors.
Sorry, what’s the claim here exactly?
That Al-Shifa hospital is a Hamas command and control centre because injured hostages were taken there for medical treatment?
The presence of injured hostages definitely justifies Israel’s massacre of the hospital. Case closed. https://t.co/78J0HAguNc
— Owen Jones (@OwenJones84) November 19, 2023
Jones has hundreds of thousands of followers and subscribers across his social media platforms.
When he tells a lie, it is disseminated far and wide with untold repercussions.
Good Morning Britain regularly tops one million viewers, which means up to a million people heard Owen Jones assert with absolutely no pushback from the hosts that Israel was building Jewish settlements inside the Gaza Strip.
How many of those people heard about his perfunctory apology and retraction issued three days later?
No, @OwenJones84, do you consider the four dead Israeli journalists who were killed by terrorists in their homes and at a music festival to be foreigners? Because that’s exactly what Hamas considered them to be. https://t.co/cJrNylUsRc pic.twitter.com/6yvJQanMwz
— HonestReporting (@HonestReporting) November 29, 2023
Photo credit: Web Summit via Flickr
