The Washington Post came under fire on Friday for publishing an insensitive post on X (formerly Twitter) referring to Israeli-American hostage Omer Neutra as “missing.”
The post implicitly criticized his parents, Ronen and Orna Neutra, for not speaking about the toll of Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza as part of their public campaign for the release of their son and the other Israeli hostages currently being held by Palestinian terror groups.
HonestReporting was one of the first to call out the Washington Post for callously using a grief-stricken family’s quest to save their son as an opportunity to shame them for a perceived political indiscretion. We also condemned the Post for mischaracterizing Omer Neutra’s status as “missing” instead of “kidnapped.”
Soon after the outcry over its tweet, the Washington Post deleted it and then replaced it with one that removed the reference to the situation in Gaza but still erroneously referred to Omer Neutra as “missing.”
In the ultimate insensitivity, @washingtonpost slams US-Israeli hostage, calling him “missing.” The only thing missing since 10/7 is WaPo’s journalistic integrity. There’s no famine in Gaza, Hamas’ #s are wrong and Hamas 2 blame 4 dead on both sides, not poor Omer or his parents. https://t.co/MdMUcPDvaG
— HonestReporting (@HonestReporting) July 19, 2024
However, despite this seeming public display of remorse, the Washington Post’s tweets were based on a profile of Ronen and Orna Neutra’s activities, which still casts a pall of shame over them for not speaking about the war’s effects on Gaza and which still refers to Omer Neutra as “missing.”
Partway through this profile of Omer Neutra’s parents and their campaign to free their son (including speaking before the Republican National Convention), correspondent Joanna Slater remarks that
When the Neutras speak publicly, they don’t talk about the ferocity of Israel’s counterattack, which has killed more than 38,000 Palestinians and left nearly 90,000 injured, according to the Gaza Health Ministry. Swaths of the territory have been pulverized and international experts have warned of looming famine.
Not only is this comment inappropriate (as if there’s a rule that parents of an Israeli hostage must make official comments about the ongoing war in Gaza) but it is also untrue that the Neutras have not made any comments about the war or expressed any public sympathy with the people of Gaza.
In fact, you don’t have to look any further than the next paragraph to find the fault in Slater’s analysis. Orna Neutra is quoted as saying that “what’s happening in Gaza is ‘horrible'” while her husband is later recorded as saying that Hamas is “not only holding hostage our son, they’re also holding hostage the people of Gaza.”
This is not the first time that the Neutras have publicly expressed sympathy with the people of Gaza.
In April 2024, Ronen Neutra expressed the belief that Hamas laying down its arms would not only release the hostages “but also their own people” while, in June 2024, he publicly expressed support for a ceasefire that would benefit both the hostages and the people of Gaza.
Ronen Neutra, the father of 22-year-old hostage Omar:
“Hamas, ISIS, can stop everything by releasing the hostages and putting down their weapons.
“We’ve got to remember who are the bad guys here… The bad guys can.. release not only the Israeli hostages but their own people.” pic.twitter.com/wtcSf10cP0
— Jacob N. Kornbluh (@jacobkornbluh) April 5, 2024
By dismissively referring to an Israeli hostage being held by Hamas for over 9 months as “missing” and injecting unnecessary and callous observations meant to implicitly cast a shadow over the activities of Orna and Ronen Neutra, Joanna Slater and the Washington Post have marred what could have otherwise been an enlightening and informative profile.
This is but the latest example of the anti-Israel bias that has continuously colored the Washington Post’s coverage of Israel’s war against Hamas since October 7.
Have you noticed the Washington Post’s anti-Israel bias? We have…🧵 pic.twitter.com/GySKTrYaxA
— HonestReporting (@HonestReporting) July 5, 2024
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Photo Credit: ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS/AFP via Getty Images
