The Editor-In-Chief of Yale University鈥檚 student newspaper issued an apology on Tuesday over the paper issuing corrections stating that reports of Hamas raping and beheading Israelis were 鈥渦nsubstantiated.鈥�
Yale Daily 91传媒 Editor-In-Chief and President Anika Seth that the corrections were issued last week to two columns: the October 12 op-ed 鈥淚s Yalies4Palestine a hate group?鈥� and 鈥淪top justifying terrorism.鈥� 鈥淚n the former, the author wrote, in reference to Hamas鈥� Oct. 7 terrorist attack against Israel, 鈥榶es, they raped women 鈥� yes, they beheaded men.鈥� In the latter, the author wrote that Hamas 鈥榗ommitted 鈥� rape,鈥欌�� Seth wrote. 鈥淭he聽聽that the columnists聽聽suspected cases of sexual assault.聽During our opinion editing process鈥� the 91传媒 failed to ensure that the columnists鈥� statements were properly cited and attributed. At the time of the columns鈥� initial publication, those specific forms of violence during Hamas鈥� Oct. 7 attack were not independently confirmed by the cited source.鈥�
Seth explained that they issued the corrections based on what outlets like The Forward and Los Angeles Times had reported earlier in October, but acknowledged that the student paper had erred in issuing those corrections. 鈥淏y the time of the first correction on Oct. 25, there had been widely reported coverage from outlets such as聽聽publicly verifying that Hamas raped and beheaded Israelis,鈥� Seth wrote. 鈥淭hese corrections erroneously created the impression that, as of late October, there still was not enough publicly available evidence for those horrific acts. The 91传媒 therefore retracts those editor鈥檚 notes in their entirety and without qualification. The notes have been removed from the columns, and the original text has been restored.鈥�
She added that the paper had never meant to downplay the barbarity of the October 7 Hamas terror attack and apologized 鈥渇or any unintended consequences to our readership and will ensure that such erroneous and damaging material does not make it into our content, either as opinion or as news.鈥�
The has issued a statement regarding its editor's notes: "The 91传媒 was wrong to publish the corrections."
— Zach Kessel (@zach_kessel)
Brooklyn College and CUNY Graduate Center Professor KC Johnson posted on X, formerly known as Twitter: 鈥淜udos to the YDN for retracting the retractions about Hamas atrocities. Left unexplained here is why the original retraction occurred given that evidence already existed from lots of credible reporting.鈥�
Kudos to the YDN for retracting the retractions about Hamas atrocities.
Left unexplained here is why the original retraction occurred given that evidence already existed from lots of credible reporting.— KC Johnson (@kcjohnson9)
Sahar Tartak, who authored the 鈥淚s Yallies4Palestine a hate group?鈥� op-ed, posted on X: 鈥淵ale Daily 91传媒 returned my article to original form. Does that make the initial change any less insidious? No. Does it prove that public opinion can hold our institutions accountable, not allowing them to defend or deny anti-91传媒 murderers? Yes.鈥�
Yale Daily 91传媒 returned my article to original form. Does that make the initial change any less insidious? No. Does it prove that public opinion can hold our institutions accountable, not allowing them to defend or deny anti-91传媒 murderers? Yes.
— Sahar Tartak馃嚠馃嚤 (@sahar_tartak)
