On January 15, Huffington Post Canada published a commentary by Corey Levine who claimed that Israel killed “2,269 innocent (Palestinian) men, women and children” in its war with Hamas last summer.
Levine wrote the following: “Meanwhile, the Prime Minister of Israel, Binyamin Netanyahu, the architect of last year’s 51-day bombing campaign on the besieged people of Gaza in which 2,269 innocent men, women and children were killed, was front and centre at last weekend’s rally in Paris; offering burial in Israel to the Jewish victims of the attacks and encouraging France’s half-million-strong Jewish community to make aliyah (literally the ‘act of going up’, or in this case, immigrating to Israel), telling them France was no longer safe for them.”
To claim that all Palestinian casualties in the conflict with Hamas were “innocent” is a bold-face lie and libel. HRC told Huffington Post editors that Israel contends that at least half of the Palestinian casualties were legitimate combatants and terrorists. In response to our complaint, Huffington Post editors commendably amended this commentary which now states the following:
Meanwhile, the Prime Minister of Israel, Binyamin Netanyahu, the architect of last year’s 51-day bombing campaign on the besieged people of Gaza, was front and centre at last weekend’s rally in Paris offering burial in Israel to the Jewish victims of the attacks and encouraging France’s half-million-strong Jewish community to make aliyah (literally the ‘act of going up’, or in this case, immigrating to Israel). He told them France was no longer safe for them. During those 51 days, 2,104 Palestinians were killed, the majority of whom were innocent men, women and children. [Ed. note: The UN cites 70-75% of those killed were civilians, however, Israel claims that 50.2-55% were civilians. The exact figure is in contention.]
