A board member for the media company that owns POLITICO derided an article the outlet published from the Associated Press as “one-sided Hamas support.”
Martin Varsavsky, a board member of Berlin-based media company Axel Springer, took to X on Tuesday to criticize the AP piece published by POLITICO that cited Hamas’ death toll numbers even though they have lied about the count repeatedly.
“I am on the board of Axel Springer that owns Político. I consider this article one sided Hamas support,” Varsavsky said. “It fails to mention that the airstrikes were aimed at eliminating top Hamas military and thar Israel was successful at doing so. It also quotes casualty figures given by Hamas that are not believed to be accurate.”
I am on the board of Axel Springer that owns Político. I consider this article one sided Hamas support. It fails to mention that the airstrikes were aimed at eliminating top Hamas military and thar Israel was successful at doing so. It also quotes casualty figures given by Hamas… https://t.co/TDWcfCaHYQ
— Martin Varsavsky (@martinvars) March 18, 2025
The AP article posted on POLITICO’s website cited Gaza Health Ministry officials claiming Israeli airstrikes killed at least 200 people and included a photo of a man holding a child with blood coming out of her nose.
The Gaza Health Ministry is notorious for lying about the number of casualties, The Daily Wire previously reported. The false statistics designed to inflate the number of casualties caused by Israel have been known for at least a decade, with a U.S. News & World Report opinion piece highlighting the issue back in 2014.
“Hamas lies systematically, instructing civilians to misinform the foreign press. It lies habitually, with a formidable record of mendacity from previous conflicts. And it lies guiltlessly, convinced that the objectives of ‘resistance’ supersede quaint notions of truth-telling,” Oren Kessler wrote at the time.
In August 2024, about 80 media outlets had to issue a correction to an AP story that falsely claimed that more than 40,000 civilians had been killed in the Israel-Hamas war that started after Hamas terrorists committed a massacre against Israelis on October 7, 2023. The Gaza Health Ministry claims more than 40,000 Palestinians have been killed, but it never said all 40,000 were civilians.
Israel estimates that more than 17,000 of those killed in the war were Hamas terrorists.
Even though the Gaza Health Ministry is known to inflate the number of casualties, media outlets continue to cite them to frame Israel as unnecessarily aggressive. The AP story criticized by Varsavksy noted in the 11th paragraph that Israel “was striking Hamas’ military, leaders and infrastructure” in the attacks, citing an Israeli official. Prior to that, the outlet described wounded Palestinians, including a crying little girl. It also provided Hamas’ perspective on the attacks while minimizing Israel’s.
The AP also reported that the “White House sought to blame Hamas for the renewed fighting” in the 9th paragraph. As National Security Council spokesman Brian Hughes told the outlet, Hamas “could have released hostages to extend the ceasefire but instead chose refusal and war.” Several paragraphs earlier, the AP let Hamas blame Israel for ending the ceasefire.
The Associated Press once shared an office building with Hamas in Gaza, The Daily Wire previously reported. That building was destroyed in 2021.
The AP noted at the time that all of its employees and freelancers were able to evacuate the building safely, thanks to the Israeli military calling ahead to warn them of the strike, as it does when targeting civilian buildings. The reason Israel targets those civilian structures is because Hamas and Palestinian authorities hide intelligence operations, weapons, and other important assets in these buildings, claiming victimhood after they’re destroyed.
