People Are Angry At The BBC For Misleading Report On Elderly Hostage Released By Hamas
The Israeli woman said that the Hamas fighters told her and other hostages that they "believe the Quran and they will not harm us".
By Sadho Ram — 25 Oct 2023, 03:47 PM
Earlier this week, Hamas released two elderly Israeli women, identified as Nurit Cooper and Yocheved Lifshitz, due to their poor health.
Both Cooper and Lifshitz were among the hundreds abducted from their homes in Nir Oz kibbutz, a small Israeli community near Gaza.
Just before her release, 85-year-old Lifshitz was seen shaking the hand of one of the Hamas fighters and bade him farewell by uttering "Shalom", the Hebrew word for peace.
It was a remarkable gesture by the woman, who later shared details about the ordeal she and others went through after being taken hostage and the subsequent care they received while in captivity.
At a press conference yesterday, 24 October, Lifshitz said that after the initial violence, she and the other hostages were "treated well" by the Hamas fighters, who fed them the same type of food they ate.
Lifshitz, who was sitting in a wheelchair outside a hospital in Tel Aviv, recalled being assaulted by her captors as they brought her into Gaza on the back of a motorcycle when she was taken hostage on 7 October.
"When I was on the motorcycle, my head was on one side and the rest of my body on the other side. The young men hit me on the way. They didn't break my ribs but it was painful and I had difficulty breathing," she said, adding, "I've been through hell... we didn't think or know we would get to this situation."
However, once in Gaza, Lifshitz said her captors treated her well, giving her and other hostages "the same food they ate" and bringing in a doctor every day to check on them and provide medicine.
"They treated us gently, and provided all our needs," she said, adding that the Hamas fighters "seemed ready for this" as they had everything that the hostages needed, "including shampoo".
Yocheved Lifshitz smiles during the press conference at Ichilov Hospital in Tel Aviv.
Image via Janis Laizans/ReutersThe Israeli woman said that the Hamas fighters told her and other hostages that they "believe the Quran and they will not harm us"
Lifshitz also shared that the Hamas fighters were very concerned about hygiene.
"They were worried about an outbreak of something. We had toilets which they cleaned every day," said the woman who, along with her husband, had ferried sick Palestinians from Gaza to Israel for treatment.
"They were friendly towards the hostages, the Hamas fighters took care of us, and they also treated one of the men, who was badly injured while being taken hostage. His condition later improved," she shared.
However, the coverage of Lifschitz's press conference by some Western media outlets has since come under fire from netizens, with some accusing the BBC of bias and deliberate disinformation
On its Instagram account, hundreds of people called out the BBC for not showing the entire interview and only highlighting the part where the 85-year-old woman said she "went through hell".
While the caption of the post uploaded on @bbcnews mentioned that "the hostages were being treated well", people took offence with the quote "I went through hell" prominently plastered on Lifschitz's photo.
For many, this showed that the BBC was biased in its coverage.
Several people criticised the BBC for not equally highlighting Lifschitz's comments about the kindness of Hamas fighters towards her and other hostages, including shared meals and other aspects of their treatment.
Others urged the British public broadcaster to stop "embarrassing itself".
"FAKE NEWS! THIS IS SO MISLEADING!! Show the video then!!!!" commented an account with 35,000 followers, while one called out the BBC for "another pathetic and grossly misleading report".
"Dinosaur of an organisation that continues to embarrass itself and lose all credibility" read another comment.
This isn't the first time the BBC has been accused of bias and trying to deliberately mislead people over the Palestine-Israel issue
Earlier this month, the broadcaster was forced to admit that it misled people when a broadcast on the BBC News channel claimed that pro-Palestine protesters across the UK were supporters of Hamas.
