Washington Post deletes “unacceptable” after criticizing American parents of Hamas hostages

The Washington Post has deleted a social media post that berated the parents of an American hostage in Gaza for not publicly criticizing Israel’s “attack” on the region – with the paper admitting the post was “unacceptable”.

“Omer Neutra has been missing since October. 7 attack on Israel. When his parents speak publicly, they don’t talk about Israel’s assault on Gaza that has killed more than 38,000 Palestinians, according to local officials. Experts have warned of a famine,” the Post wrote on Friday X morning.

The post links to an interview by writer Joanna Slater with Omer’s parents, Oma and Ronen Neutra, before their speech on day three of the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee.

The newspaper’s Friday post drew a firestorm of criticism for scolding the Neutra family and saying Omer “has been missing” instead of stating that he had been abducted.

The paper removed it a few hours later.

A WaPo representative declined to comment, but referred to the newspaper’s social media post in response to the outcry.

“An earlier post referencing the story below was unacceptable and did not meet our editorial standards, and The Post has deleted it. The news reporter was not involved in drafting the tweet. We have taken appropriate action regarding this incident,” Post wrote in X.

The newspaper also wrote that it had deleted her previous post because it “characterized the mistakes of Neutra’s parenting efforts.”

Later on Friday, however, the same article still criticized the Neutrals for failing to discuss “the ferocity of Israel’s counterattack,” citing casualty estimates from the Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry.

Omer, 22, grew up in Long Island, NY and is a dual American-Israeli citizen who serves in the Israel Defense Forces.

He is one of eight American hostages kidnapped by Hamas in October. 7 during her brutal terrorist attack.

A family friend of Neutra’s, who asked not to be named, called the post “anti-Semitic and un-American” in an interview with the Post on Friday.

The source noted that even though the paper deleted the post, it still retained language claiming that Israel’s counterattack has “killed more than 38,000 Palestinians and left nearly 90,000 wounded” — a number cited by the Gaza Ministry of Health.

“What’s going on at the Washington Post?” the source said. “We know that the anti-Semitic voices in the Washington Post have won the day. The only thing they regret is that their post on X got called out. They left their anti-Semitic content in their history.”

“Talking about the hostages has been one of the few things that has been a point of agreement between the president, the vice president and the leaders of Congress and the Senate,” the family friend added.

“The neutrals are advocating for a hostage deal,” the source said, noting that they want the conflict to end.

Others at X hit out at the media, with American Defamation League CEO Jonathan Greenblatt writing: “Are you kidding me, @washingtonpost? You may have deleted the post, but the thoughtless characterization of Omer Neutra’s parents – who have spent the last 287 days not knowing the fate of their son after he was kidnapped by terrorists on October 7 – remains in your article.”

He continued: “And to add insult to injury, the article cites ‘local officials’, known as the Ministry of Health in Gaza, which is run by Hamas – the terrorist organization that launched the barbaric massacre of 7/10 that led to the ongoing war .”

Media analyst Rich Greenfield of LightShed Partners called on Washington Post owner Jeff Bezos to fire executive editor Matt Murray as well as the reporter who wrote the article.

“The Washington Post should fire executive editor @murraymatt and reporter @jslaternyc for enabling one of the most horrific anti-Semitic headlines I’ve ever read,” he wrote.

This is not the first time the paper has come under scrutiny from Jewish groups for its reporting on the war in Gaza since the Hamas terror attack last fall.

Fox News reported that an anti-Semitic nonprofit called StopAntisemitism accused the paper of “aligning” with pro-terrorist groups since the Oct. 7 attacks after it published a sympathetic article in April about individuals who had lost their jobs defending Hamas.