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Guardian admits ‘collective failure’ over October 7 documentary review
The article criticised the film’s ‘demonisation’ of Hamas murderers
October 15, 2024 10:22
The article criticised the film’s ‘demonisation’ of Hamas murderers
October 15, 2024 10:22The Guardian has issued an apology after a furious backlash over its review of a documentary on the October 7 massacre that criticised how Hamas murderers had been “demonised”.
Written by journalist Stuart Jeffries, the review of Channel 4’s One Day in October was pulled last week following reaction to its suggestion that the terrorists who committed the deadly attack at Kibbutz Be'eri had been depicted unfairly.
In an apology published on its website on Monday evening the Guardian said while it believed that the review did condemn the “attack’s perpetrators”, it ultimately failed to meet the paper’s editorial standards in its criticism of the documentary.
“The Guardian considers the article did convey the harrowing footage and powerful survivor interviews and condemned the attack’s perpetrators,” it said.
“But the unacceptable terms in which it went on to criticise the documentary were inconsistent with our editorial standards.
“This was a collective failure of process and we apologise for any offence caused.”
The apology ended by saying that the article had been removed from the Guardian’s website.
Using CCTV and GoPro footage, One Day in October recounts the deadly massacre of Kibbutz Be'eri which killed over 100 Israelis and saw 32 hostages taken into Gaza.
Jeffries’ four-star review of the documentary immediately sparked a furore last week, after he lamented that the attack’s perpetrators were negatively depicted as "testosterone-crazed Hamas killers" and "shameless civilian looters”.
“This disturbing documentary about the attack on Be’eri kibbutz is full of troubling interviews and phone/CCTV footage,” the website’s introduction said. “Sadly, it also demonises Gazans as either killers or looters.”
The review went on to say how “All our sympathies are with relatable Israelis...By contrast, Hamas terrorists are a generalised menace on CCTV, their motives beyond One Day in October’s remit.”
Jeffries suggested that the documentary didn’t supply audiences with the broader context of Hamas’ actions, writing: "If you want to understand why Hamas murdered civilians, though, One Day in October won’t help."
Dave Rich, director of policy at the Community Security Trust (CST), remarked on Twitter/X on the day of the review’s publication: “As if there’s something wrong with sympathising with an Israeli child cowering in fear rather than the terrorists coming to kill her.”