A few days after the Associated Press drew widespread criticism for saying three members of the Bibas family—mother Shiri, 32, and her two young sons, Ariel, 4, and Kfir, 9 months—“died in captivity,” The New York Times faced similar backlash.
While reporting on their funerals the Times stated in updates and an Instagram story that the hostages “died in captivity” and “died in Gaza.”
“Why won’t The New York Times say it: Shiri, Ariel and Kfir Bibas were MURDERED,” wrote the American Jewish Committee. “Terrorists killed the two little boys with their bare hands. Stop covering for Hamas.
The pro-Israeli media watchdog group HonestReporting wrote: “Just appalling, New York Times. Shiri, Ariel and Kfir Bibas didn’t simply ‘die in captivity.’ They were kidnapped and murdered in cold blood by Hamas terrorists. Please start showing some respect, both for the victims of Hamas depravity and for professional journalism.”
Confirmed through forensic analysis, the Israeli Defense Forces said the Bibas boys were strangled to death in November 2023, a month after being kidnapped from their home in Kibbutz Nir Oz as part of the Hamas-led terrorist attacks in southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023.
Hamas returned their bodies on Feb. 20, in addition to what they said was Shiri’s, though DNA testing found that the remains were not hers but an unknown woman and not a hostage. The terrorist group returned Shiri’s body on Feb. 21.
Thousands of Israelis lined the funeral procession route with many wearing orange, the hair color of the boys that has become a symbol of the battle for awareness of the plight of the hostages.
Shiri, Ariel and Kfir were buried together in one coffin.
