The far‑left Standing Together organization published a public apology on Wednesday to Shmuel Wendy, the director of the Chomesh Yeshiva in the Shomron, after falsely accusing him of killing a Palestinian minor, Arutz Sheva reported.
The organization not only falsely accused Wendy but also published his name and photo online, endangering his life. A quick Google search of his name showed that the false report had already been publicized on Arab social media as fact, with posts published even after the apology was issued. In addition, they also lied about the incident, writing details that never occurred.
On Tuesday evening, the organization circulated a photo of an armed soldier along with the caption: “Here is the face of the terrorist who shot children at a school, and this is his name—Shmuel Wendy, director of the Homesh Yeshiva. We all know he will continue walking free. This is the face of the occupation.”
The post quickly gained tens of thousands of views and triggered a wave of hateful and inciting comments against Wendy. However, as revealed by Arutz Sheva, the claim had no connection to reality. Wendy was not in the area at the time, and the person in the photo was not him. In addition, as YWN reported on Tuesday, the incident in question occurred after masked Palestinian terrorists threw stones at an Israeli vehicle. An IDF reservist who was in the vehicle opened fire at the terrorists. Two terrorists were killed. The younger terrorist was identified as the son of a terrorist eliminated in the past by Israeli security forces after taking part in a shooting attack.
As is known, Arabs throwing stones at moving vehicles have resulted in serious injuries and even deaths.
Standing Together an “apology” on Wednesday morning, writing: “Apology: Anyone with a conscience is horrified that ‘armed settlers raided the Palestinian village of al‑Mughayir in the West Bank last night’ and shot dead a 13‑year‑old boy. A photo of the shooter was circulated on social media, with the claim that it was Shmeul Wendy from the Homesh Yeshiva. As a result, we repeated this claim here. This morning, following overnight media reports, we learned that this claim was incorrect. We immediately deleted what we had written and apologize to Shmuel Wendy for the mistaken identification, which was made in good faith.”
According to Arutz Sheva, Wendy does not intend to remain silent and plans to file a massive lawsuit in the coming days against the Standing Together organization.
As can be seen below, Arab media accounts subsequently spread the false report, with Wendy’s actual photo.
(YWN Israel Desk—Jerusalem)
