ABC Middle East correspondent Tom Joyner labels stories about babies being beheaded in Israel ‘bullshit’

The ABC’s Middle East correspondent has been criticised after he disputed claims during a fiery exchange in a WhatsApp group that there had been beheadings of babies.

ABC’s Middle East correspondent Tom Joyner..

The ABC’s Middle Eastern correspondent Tom Joyner has labelled reports about babies being beheaded by Hamas terrorists in ­Israel as “bullshit” during a fiery exchange in a WhatsApp group with hundreds of international journalists and broadcasters.

Joyner, who is reporting on the conflict between Israel and Pales­tine, told a WhatsApp chat group on Tuesday – in now-deleted comments – he did not believe stories being reported around the world about babies being beheaded were true.

“The story about the babies is bullshit,” he posted to the large group of media representatives sharing information about the attacks in Israel by Hamas terrorists.

WhatsApp messages posted by Joyner, seen by The Australian, were met with condemnation from many members of the media who are part of the chat group set up shortly after the conflict in Israel began at the weekend.

One group member responded to Joyner’s “bullshit” comment with “Care to retract this now?”

Joyner immediately replied, telling the group he was sorry for his remarks.

“I’m sorry about the wording – I regret that. But we still have not seen clear evidence,” he wrote on WhatsApp.

“Why hasn’t there been anything unequivocal from the IDF (Israel Defence Forces) or from Netanyahu.”

Many reports, including from i24News correspondent Nicole Zedek who is in Tel Aviv, told of first-hand testimony from soldiers about the beheadings.

Recreated WhatsApp groupchat messages.

“Some soldiers say they found babies with their heads cut off, entire families gunned down in their beds,” she said.

“About 40 babies and young children have been taken out on gurneys – so far.”’

Zedek also said in a TV interview that soldiers had told of the atrocities they had witnessed.

“As I was speaking to some of the soldiers, one of the deputy commanders who was first on the scene to arrive to this massacre on Saturday, he said that with his own eyes he witnessed children with their heads cut off by these masked terrorists,” Zedek said.

In the WhatsApp messages shared among international media representatives, Joyner was quickly met with condemnation by journalists reporting on the war in Israel.

“Why are you picking this hill to be humiliated on?”, one person wrote.

Another also replied to Joyner’s comments and said: “The PMO (Prime Minister’s Office) confirmed it, there are numerous eyewitness testimonies from the field and (US President Joe) Biden just confirmed seeing evidence to support it.

“What more would you like?

“Do you need to be taken to a morgue and open body bags yourself? Shame on you.”

Another journalist also replied: “There have been multiple people here, myself included, saying they have spoken to eyewitnesses about decapitations.”

Joyner, who has been posting numerous pictures on his Instagram account from Israel, has produced multiple stories on the events unfolding in Israel.

When he was contacted by The Australian on Thursday, he did not respond.

Mr Biden told Jewish leaders that he had seen “confirmed pictures of terrorists beheading children” in southern Israel, although these remarks were later clarified to say that neither Mr Biden nor US officials had seen actual images.

On Friday, Israel confirmed reports of babies being burnt and decapitated in Hamas’s assault on the Kfar Aza kibbutz and that photos were shown to US Secretary of State Antony Blinken during his visit to Israel on Thursday by the Public Diplomacy Directorate in the Prime Minister’s Office. Tal Heinrich, spokesman for the Israel leader, also confirmed the brutality.

“Toddlers, babies heads were cut off,” he said.

Later in the day, the photographs were published by Benjamin Netanyahu’s office on X. The Israeli leader’s account said he showed Mr Blinken “photos of babies murdered and burned by the Hamas monsters”.

Graphic messages have also been shared about the South First Responders – the first group of responders in Gaza – and this included one image of a young child burned alive in a home.

The ABC was also asked questions about the matter but would not comment.