The Associated Press has had quite the slanted coverage of the Israeli-Hamas conflict following October 7, 2023. Over 500 days later, though, as the bodies of murdered Hamas victims are being sent back to Israel and identified by forensics, the outlet decided to once more tout pro-Hamas propaganda.
In the early hours of Thursday morning, the AP put out a "BREAKING" news piece on the Bibas family. Although Yarden Bibas, husband and father, returned on February 1 after a hostage swap, his wifi, Shiri, as well as their two children, Kfir and Ariel, who were just 9-months-old and 4-years-old when taken hostage, were murdered. As the post mentioned, though, Shiri "and her two children... were long feared dead."
The actual piece refers to Hamas terrorists as "militants" or "militant group" countless times. Not once are they described as the terrorists that they are. As the article also mentions about the death of the three Bibas family members [emphasis added]:
TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — Hamas on Thursday released the bodies of four Israeli hostages, said to include a mother and her two children who have long been feared dead and had come to symbolize the nation’s agony following the attack led by the militant group on southern Israel in 2023.
The remains were presumed to include Shiri Bibas and her two children, Ariel and Kfir — and the Israeli government confirmed that one of the bodies returned was of Oded Lifshitz, who was 83 when he was abducted. Kfir, who was 9 months old when he was kidnapped, was the youngest captive. Hamas has said that all four were killed along with their guards in Israeli airstrikes.
In the approximately 12 hours since it's been up, the AP post has been thoroughly ratioed. There are 166 likes to approximately 350 replies calling the outlet out, with many users taking issue with how the post did not refer to how the Bibas family was murdered, in addition to the pro-Hamas angle the post went with.
There's also been mention in the replies and quoted reposts about how the Trump administration restricted AP's access. Such an announcement came last Friday, as the outlet refuses to correctly refer to the Gulf of America by its new name.
Bodies? Why what happened to them?
— Stephen L. Miller (@redsteeze) February 20, 2025
So I see you don’t want back in the press pool
— Dr Strangetweet or How I Learned to Love the RT (@lone_rides) February 20, 2025
Always the passive voice, as if Hamas just stumbled upon the corpses of a woman and her young children.
— Amy Curtis 🇮🇱 (@RantyAmyCurtis) February 20, 2025
Hamas murdered them. https://t.co/sj7YmSV0nZ
This is why the AP should be nowhere near the White House https://t.co/ow2EIJfd60 pic.twitter.com/elPHaZgy8Z
— Stephen L. Miller (@redsteeze) February 20, 2025
Notice how the AP doesn't state that these hostages were alive when they were kidnapped, and that Hamas write on the coffins that they were "arrested on October 7th"
— Stephen L. Miller (@redsteeze) February 20, 2025
Even now they are watering this down. Keep the AP banned from the White House. https://t.co/ow2EIJfKVy
The AP article briefly delved into how Hamas used the deaths of the Bibas family and Oded Lifshitz, 83-years-old at the time of his death, for propaganda purposes against a large backdrop while Gazan "civilians," including children, cheered:
Before the handoff of the bodies, militants in the Gaza Strip displayed four black coffins on a stage surrounded by banners, including a large one depicting Netanyahu as a vampire. Thousands of people, including large numbers of masked and armed militants, looked on as the coffins were loaded onto Red Cross vehicles before being driven to Israeli forces.
Words, however, especially such a sanitized description as the above from the AP, cannot accurately depict the scene that many have posted images and video clips of.
Further, according to the Times of Israel, the names of Kfir and Ariel were switched. Their coffins also contained a propaganda message, with the "date of arrest" noted. Even in death, Hamas terrorists continue their assault against their murder/hostage victims and the Jewish state of Israel.
Look at all of these “uninvolved” Gazans who turned up to jeer at the corpses of four Israel hostages.
— Eyal Yakoby (@EYakoby) February 20, 2025
Such a sick society. pic.twitter.com/euQhZMUQz3
The caskets of Oded Lifshitz, Shiri Bibas, Ariel Bibas (5), and Kfir Bibas (1) have been paraded across a stage with Hamas terrorists to cheering Gazan “civilians” surrounded by terrorist propaganda.
— Emily Schrader - אמילי שריידר امیلی شریدر (@emilykschrader) February 20, 2025
Hamas is openly and publicly celebrating that they kidnapped and murdered an… pic.twitter.com/OVL4UGnZxD
There’s good guys and bad guys in this war. If it isn’t obvious to you now, God help you. 🎗️ https://t.co/zpAKUk0vz1
— Scott Jennings (@ScottJenningsKY) February 20, 2025
Come, children! Come witness our spectacle of parading around the coffins of Jewish babies we kidnapped and murdered. Smile, sing, whistle, cheer!
— Guy Benson (@guypbenson) February 20, 2025
Absolutely cooked, evil culture. pic.twitter.com/fCMkgUepTN
Parading around baby's coffin with happy music blasting and cheering crowds, and progressives have zero problems with it pic.twitter.com/EuJlS2ivbR
— End Wokeness (@EndWokeness) February 20, 2025
The return of the hostages has been a trending topic on X for Thursday, especially as forensic analysis has confirmed that the remains of Lifshitz are, in fact, his.
Oded Lifshitz was 83 at the time of his death.
— Prime Minister of Israel (@IsraeliPM) February 20, 2025
We share in the family's sorrow at this difficult hour.
May his memory be blessed.
We can now confirm that the late Oded Lifshitz was murdered, at the age of 83, in captivity by Islamic Jihad and was brought back to Israel today.
— Israel Defense Forces (@IDF) February 20, 2025
We send our deepest condolences to his wife, Yocheved, and to the rest of his family.
May his memory be a blessing. pic.twitter.com/ACEjXJz37j
Although President Donald Trump, a particularly pro-Israel president whose first term saw the Abraham Accords normalizing relations with Israel and several Arab nations, it appears has yet to post from his Truth Social about Israel receiving the bodies, some are posting on X about what he reportedly told advisors.
Israel's Channel 14 has reportedly indicated that after Trump saw the Hamas propaganda to do with the Bibas family and Lifshitz, he has strong thoughts about the future of Gaza. "I want to see Gaza wiped out; I don't want to see even one building standing," he reportedly told advisors.
Trump's pro-Israel position stands in strong contrast to the previous Biden-Harris administration, which tried to appeal to both sides and made it a priority to focus on a two-state solution.
President Trump did not "kill the two-state solution."
— Eyal Yakoby (@EYakoby) February 20, 2025
Palestinians did. pic.twitter.com/fYnju7wvCw
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