This week, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt slammed the media for constantly citing the Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry as a reputable source. Doing so has come back to bite media outlets like the Washington Post:
Correction: We’ve deleted the post below because it and early versions of the article didn’t meet Post fairness standards.
— The Washington Post (@washingtonpost) June 3, 2025
The background: Early versions of the article on Sunday stated that Israeli troops had killed more than 30 people near a U.S. aid site in Gaza, with the… pic.twitter.com/KseRXgJn6A
During a briefing this week, Leavitt focused on the BBC and their Gaza coverage while shredding them for citing the Hamas-run health ministry as a source.
The BBC clearly took exception to that:
On Tuesday, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt made a series of claims about the BBC's coverage of events in Gaza on Sunday. We've looked at the claims - and the number of misrepresentations and untruths that they contained. https://t.co/gn2TdfaxDT
— Ros Atkins (@BBCRosAtkins) June 4, 2025
The link in the post goes to a video of the BBC fact-check of Leavitt.
The video that the BBC thinks debunks what Leavitt said literally contains this part:
***
Leavitt: Unfortunately unlike some in the media, we don't take the word of Hamas with total truth.
BBC Fact Checker: But BBC News didn't do that. It did quote the Hamas-run health ministry with clear attribution. The ministry, which is part of the Hamas-controlled government, is the main source of official information when it comes to casualties in Gaza.
***
That didn't escape the notice of Leavitt, who responded this way:
Me: The White House doesn’t take Hamas’s word as total truth like the fake news BBC.
— Karoline Leavitt (@PressSec) June 5, 2025
Fake News BBC: We didn’t do that! We just quoted the Hamas-run health ministry to run with our false claims. https://t.co/83B2J0Bj8z pic.twitter.com/fUduKPE7fw
That particular "fact-check" was self-debunking!
.@BBC you should be reporting on news, not creating it. https://t.co/BbtAB4CHMM
— Orly Goldschmidt 🎗️ (@Orlygoldschmidt) June 5, 2025
And certainly not repeatedly citing Hamas as a remotely credible source.
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