David Collier Profile picture
Award winning Investigative Journalist: Fighting for the truth 🇮🇱 🇬🇧 🇺🇸 Support https://t.co/7Jaqd6aIxy

Apr 7, 15 tweets

We all heard the "tortured toddler" story - it went viral. A demonising claim about Israeli soldiers.

So I did what no mainstream outlet appears to have done. I examined the evidence!

And the whole thing soon fell apart.

Thread ⬇️⬇️⬇️

First (as I posted last week) I found the father’s Facebook page. His profile pic is of him holding a firearm.

The account even references military training - in Gaza, that means affiliation with a terrorist group.

The Palestinians want you to think he just took a wrong turn.

All the media stories pushed the same line. He wanted to go shopping, but took a wrong turn.

This is the area he was stopped. Open fields. No shops. No residential confusion.

At what point does someone realise they are not heading towards groceries? Why no media pushback?

See the ridge in that photo? That is where the IDF took him. That means all the key events happened out of sight.

No independent witnesses. Which raises an obvious question: Who exactly is describing what happened? And how could they have seen anything?

The story changes. I checked all the interviews. In the very first one he was traumatised after losing his horse and livelihood. By the time it got to @SkyNews, it was after he lost a home and a child.

These are not minor differences - they are entirely different explanations.

In one version:
The grandfather learns about it 30 minutes later.

Another (reported by Sky News):
He chased after him but couldn’t reach him in time.

So which is it?

And if the Grandfather chased after him - how on earth did he know where to go?

The child’s trousers are covered in blood. We are told it belongs to the father.

So the child was right next to the father when he was shot. A very violent moment.

That provides a simpler and far more logical explanation for the child’s minor injuries.

The child was handed to the Red Cross. They would have see the blood on the trousers and checked his health. But they did not take him to hospital.

Instead, he was returned directly to family members - who (we are told) only took the child to hospital the following day. Really?

The medical certificate is in English.
In Gaza.
For a local family and local doctors.
Why?

The whole thing just looks staged for international audience. Why is our media not pushing back on any of this?

The mother describes nails driven into the child’s legs.

The medical report?

Mentions only minor wounds.

No reference to anything remotely consistent with that claim.

The certificate is signed by a recently qualified doctor with no indication of forensic expertise.

This is an allegation of torture of a toddler. Why was this not handled by a senior forensic specialist?

And why on earth did they media not push back on this too? A newbie?

Israel says the man was affiliated with Hamas.
The incident occurred east of Maghazi camp.

Just weeks earlier, a Hamas fighter was killed and buried there with full insignia.

This context cannot simply be ignored. Why is our media not doing its job?

There are two accounts.
The Israeli account is coherent and follows a logical sequence of events.

The Palestinian narrative is fantastical and relies on contradictions, missing evidence, and claims that collapse under scrutiny.

So why on earth did our media legitimise it it?

No mainstream outlet asked even the most basic questions.

Instead, once again - a story that demonises Israel was repeated - again and again -without scrutiny.

A modern version of a blood libel.

full account with links and evidence here: david-collier.com/the-return-of-…

And please - if you value this work please support it. Help to fight back. Subscribe on X or support my Patreon- patreon.com/davidcollier or donate via PayPal/CC paypal.com/paypalme/david… thank you!!!! END

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