NY Mag reporter forced to explain viral post that it was 'overstatement' to claim Hamas 'beheaded' infants

New York Magazine Intelligencer features writer Eric Levitz responded Sunday to backlash over a post he made on whether babies were actually "beheaded" or not in Israel by Hamas terrorists, where he said it wasn't fully proven that occurred.

"According to this report," Levitz wrote in response to an investigation by an international team of forensic pathologists, "Hamas militants tied a parent and child together and then burned them alive."

"Last night, I asserted that this report indicated that babies were beheaded," Levitz wrote on Sunday. "This was an overstatement. I should have said that the report established that babies were found headless, a fact that lends plausibility to claims of beheading, but which does not prove them."

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Intelligencer features writer Eric Levitz responded to backlash over a post he made on whether babies were actually "beheaded" or not in Israel by Hamas terrorists.  (Getty Images)

He gave a parenthetical explanation as to the exact definition of a beheading. "(The verb behead has multiple definitions, and is sometimes used to mean decapitate; the report indicates that Hamas did behead babies in that sense. But the term can also connote a form of execution using a knife, and we do not have confirmation of beheading in this sense)[.]"

The reporter added that he did not "think much of anything follows from this distinction" because whether the infants were beheaded or not, either case was an example of "horrific atrocities," he wrote. "But some people disagree[.]"

Levitz has since responded directly to the backlash that he has received over his post. "Many have misconstrued this tweet as an apology for Hamas. It isn't; the tweet immediately follows one in which I highlight the fact that Hamas burned families alive. I recently wrote a piece expressing my moral revulsion at leftwing apologias for Hamas." 

He added a lengthy thread where he said his assertion was merely journalistic and not to give credence to the idea that the media was lying about the extent of Hamas atrocities. He made the point that a pathologist report couldn't conclusively determine beheading, although critics charged that he was splitting hairs.

"It is not better to burn a baby alive than to behead one. What matters is that irreplaceable lives were destroyed, each death opening a hole in the worlds of all who loved them," he wrote. "So, please understand that my insistence on precision about what exactly befell these murdered innocents is rooted in a mere concern for accurately representing the findings of the forensic pathologists' report."

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The writer received withering criticism for his initial post, with Manhattan Institute senior fellow Christopher Rufo writing in response to Levitz's initial post: "Just some babies found headless. Could be nothing."

A National Review writer quipped, "I read this as exquisite satire, but it's not is it?"

Levitz pointed directly to a piece that he wrote headlined, "A Left That Refuses to Condemn Mass Murder Is Doomed," which he called an example of his "moral revulsion at leftwing apologias for Hamas." 

"It is not hyperbole to say that many left-wing supporters of Palestine celebrated Hamas’s atrocities," Levitz wrote in that article, highlighting particularly egregious examples of what he called a "loud minority of pseudo-radicals" who publicly support Hamas. 

The debate over the Oct. 7 Hamas terrorist attack on Israeli and other citizens continues to rage at universities across the United States. 

Recently, Columbia Business School assistant professor and Israeli-American Shai Davidai called Columbia University president Minouche Shafik a "coward" for remaining silent on "pro-terror" groups at school. (Jennifer Mitchell for Fox News Digital)

Recently, Columbia Business School assistant professor and Israeli-American Shai Davidai called Columbia University president Minouche Shafik a "coward" for remaining silent on "pro-terror" groups at school.

"To the pro-terror organizations at Columbia, my 7-year-old son is a legitimate target of resistance just because he’s Israeli," Davidai said in a passionate speech on campus. 

Levitz did not respond to a request for comment from Fox News Digital. 

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Jeffrey Clark is an associate editor for Fox News Digital. He has previously served as a speechwriter for a cabinet secretary and as a Fulbright teacher in South Korea. Jeffrey graduated from the University of Iowa in 2019 with a degree in English and History. 

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