On Dec. 17, 2025, then Haaretz English editor Esther Solomon wrote to subscribers with great wisdom and clarity:
The contention that no one who could be associated with genocide in Gaza – meaning any flavor of “Zionist” or any Jew unless proven otherwise – can be considered innocent, and thus a victim, should be limited to the darker corners of social media, not least because it is a dark mirror of the equally repulsive claim that there are no innocents in Gaza.
On May 25, 2026, Haaretz‘s English edition published an article which wholeheartedly embraced the contention that all Zionists are genocidaires. Not just any ordinary genocidaires, mind you, but genocidal beyond imagination. As the Haaretz headline for Ori Morad’s fawning profile of social media content creator Andrey Khrzhanovskiy (also known as “Andrey X”) put it: “‘Israelis Are More Genocidal Than People Think’: Meet Andrey X, the ‘Counter Hasbara’ TikToker.”
Rather than challenging Andrey X’s vile incitement with difficult questions about the veracity of his claims, Haaretz’s English edition, headed up by editor Yishai Halper who assumed his post in April, amplifies it. Notably, the atrocious piece, which arguably would not be acceptable even in mainstream international publications with a strong anti-Israel filter such as The Guardian, did not appear in Hebrew.
Beyond the vile, incendiary headline, Morad’s article contains an egregiously false claim about schoolchildren of Umm al-Khair. Relying on rabidly anti-Israel children’s entertainer Ms. Rachel and Andrey X, Morad reports without qualification or challenge whatsoever:
. . . Israeli settlers “put up a barbed-wire fence blocking the village’s main road, keeping the children from safely reaching their school,” and that the children’s peaceful protest faced “tear gas and rifles from soldiers protecting the illegal fence.”“The world watching may be the only thing helping protect this village and these precious children,” Ms. Rachel plead. [sic]
Ms. Rachel’s claim that the children cannot access their school is false. As CAMERA’s Darcie Grunblatt previously reported:
. . . the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) confirmed to CAMERA that while Carmel residents did erect the fence within their municipal boundaries, the children have a safe, alternative route to school that “does not require passing through the community.” [Emphasis added.]
On April 20, 2026, Mount Hebron Regional Council head Eliram Azoulay published a video timing himself driving the unimpeded alternate route. The journey took just one minute and ten seconds. He also accused the Umm al-Khair community of staging the protest in the same post.
Map provided by the Mount Hebron Regional Council (translated to English)
Following communication from CAMERA, a council spokesperson provided a map outlining Carmel in blue and the alternate route in green. The map also shows the area of Umm al-Khair next to Carmel, where some permanent homes are located, as well as where the school is located.
Satellite imagery on Google Earth confirms the map’s veracity, clearly showing the road linking the two parts of Umm al-Khair (outlined in red). Al Jazeera also published a map of the same area, showing the same location of the Umm al-Khair homes as the council spokesperson’s map.
Furthermore, the spokesperson said that the Umm al-Khair site next to Carmel is illegal and occupies Carmel’s land. Israel’s Civil Administration has issued demolition orders for 13 structures in the Bedouin village.
Screenshot of Google Earth map of Carmel and Umm al-Khair (outlined in red).
Before Carmel’s residents erected the fence, some Umm al-Khair residents cut through the valley on foot, which compromised Carmel’s perimeter, according to the council spokesperson. The residents built the fence to prevent infiltration, the spokesperson said.
In a Dec. 25 marketing email, then Haaretz English editor Solomon promised readers: “This year, our reporting came from the ground up: reporters witnessing events firsthand, editors rigorously testing every claim, analysts placing breaking news within a wider framework of law, power and consequence.”
Unfortunately, it seems that Haaretz’s reporting on Umm al-Khair came from Ms. Rachel and Andrey X, and not from on the ground reporting. Short of sending reporters to see the route which the IDF and resident Israeli point out exists enabling children to walk safely to school, Haaretz might have chosen to include a response from the IDF and/or the Israelis on the scene.
Reuters, unlike Haaretz, did rightly include the IDF’s response to the Palestinian claim repeated by Ms. Rachel that troops fired tear gas at “the children’s peaceful protest”:
In a statement, the Israeli military said on Monday that soldiers had used “riot dispersal means” against several adult Palestinians who it said had tried to reach the security perimeter of the Carmel settlement. The military acknowledged that children were present but said they were not targeted.
But Morad did not take that very basic journalistic step and instead relied blindly on the account of social media figures with problematic records of anti-Israel libels (“14,000 babies are at risk of dying if they don’t get help within 48 hours”) and antisemitic sentiments (“Free America from the Jews”).
While the newspaper smears all Israelis as genocidaires, it takes on faith the claims of the troubled children’s entertainer. This is the same Ms. Rachel who hosted her “friend Motaz” Azaiza, a chap who celebrated the genocidal Oct. 7 attack, glorified Oct. 7 architect Yahya Sinwar (“He wanted you in the field; were you in the field?”) and posted: “a single Palestinian is more important than a thousand Israelis.”
So, who, exactly is genocidal? Normative Israelis or Haaretz‘s sources, quoted without challenge and granted admiring coverage?
What steps will Haaretz take to undo this dangerous incitement fueling global antisemitism? Will it remove the piece? Qualify the false statements of Ms. Rachel and Andrey X? Remove the toxic headline spurring on the next deadly attack on Jews worldwide? Will anyone within the Haaretz system be held accountable for these gross missteps?
For the Hebrew version of this post, please see CAMERA Hebrew.