Confirmation bias is a powerful force. If someone has an absolute conviction – such as that Israel exemplifies evil– they tend to believe every single allegation. They will seldom bother to examine whether there is any contradictory evidence to any particular claim of wrongdoing.

That was what happened when on 27 June the English edition of Haaretz ran an article claiming Israeli soldiers were “deliberately” (its word) shooting at Gazan civilians queuing for aid. The leftist Israeli daily also used the term “killing field” in its headline suggesting this was a systematic massacre (pictured). Unsurprisingly the story was quickly picked up by other news outlets around the world and went viral on social media.

Soon afterwards though it was revealed there were important discrepancies between the English version of the article and the original Hebrew. The word “deliberate” was not in the Hebrew headline or the main text. Nor was the term “killing field”. The Hebrew text also suggested that the Israeli soldiers fired warning shots to keep Gazan civilians at a distance rather than aiming at them. Yet this is not what the English version said.

It is possible the discrepancies were the result of sloppy editing rather than made on purpose. It is impossible to be certain. What is clear though is that Haaretz failed to set the record straight despite having ample opportunity to do so.

For example, almost a week later the article was discussed with one of the article’s authors, Nir Hasson, on the Haaretz English podcast. Yet the presenter repeated the lines about “deliberate” shooting and “killing field” without any contradiction from the author. 

Ironically in the same podcast the presenter read out promotional text boasting of Haaretz producing “accurate, committed and incisive journalism”. She also talked of the newspaper “refusing to bend to pressure from any government or leader”. Yet if the newspaper fails to correct its own mistakes it certainly cannot be trusted to withstand external pressure.

For those unfamiliar with Haaretz English I wrote an article in 2021 about how the newspaper is essentially a bridge between Israel’s disaffected elite and foreign progressives. Relatively few Israelis read the Hebrew version of the newspaper but the English edition is a key source for anti-Israel activists. Indeed much of the material used by such activists comes, either directly or indirectly, from Haaretz’s English edition. 

Since my earlier article things have become transparently worse. At a meeting in London in October 2024 the publisher of Haaretz, Amos Schocken, referred to Hamas as “freedom fighters”. In the midst of a furore he partially retracted his words. 

It is true confirmation bias can work in more than one direction. No doubt some of Israel’s supporters instantly dismiss all such allegations against the country. But this is far rarer on the Israeli side than on the anti-Israel side.

Haviv Rettig Gur, one of Israel’s most thoughtful journalists, provided a model example of a balanced approach to criticism. In an episode of his Ask Haviv Anything podcast he pointed out the glaring translation errors but also argued there was an important element of truth in the Haaretz article. Gur argued – and this was also in the substance of the original article – that the incidents showed a tragic lack of competence by the Israeli army in such situations. 

There were reasons for this incompetence but Gur nevertheless argued it was unforgivable. For a start Israelis soldiers were not armed or trained to deal with civilian crowd control. Policing is fundamentally different from soldiering. The IDF troops were well trained to fight Hamas but not to control groups of civlians. Soldiers were also, understandably, on edge as they were constantly facing a mortal threat from Hamas terrorists. 

The IDF is in the midst of going through the difficult process of learning from its mistakes as it has in other areas. For instance, at first Israeli troops were unused to fighting Hamas in tunnels but they have developed effective strategies for doing so.

Gur argued that it is essential that the IDF does learn from its errors. If Israel is to win the war it does not just need to defeat Hamas militarily but to try its best to neutralise the hostility among Gazan civilians. Ordinary Palestinians are unlikely to love the IDF but the ideal would be for them to at least see it as behaving reasonably.

Far better to tackle hard truths, as Gur did, rather than unthinkingly spread lies far and wide.