Zionist FAQs: Complicity at The Economist: Shashank Joshi and the Utility of a Lie

Shushank Josh's infamous tweet two weeks after Oct. 7th, 2023

When a senior editor at one of the world’s most influential publications spreads a catastrophic lie, how long does it take for them to retract it? In the case of Shashank Joshi, the Defence Editor at The Economist, the answer is nearly two and a half years.

In the devastating calculus of modern warfare, atrocity propaganda serves a very specific, catastrophic purpose: it manufactures immediate, visceral consent for disproportionate violence. When a lie is horrific enough, it paralyzes critical thinking, bypasses journalistic scrutiny, and gives militaries the geopolitical cover they need to unleash absolute destruction. Joshi's handling of the thoroughly debunked "beheaded babies" narrative is a textbook case study in how the Western media establishment actively participates in this cycle. It demonstrates what happens when the architects and amplifiers of propaganda allow disinformation to stand long after the truth is known, simply because the lie has excellent geopolitical utility.

October 22, 2023: The Illusion of the "Fog of War"

On October 22, 2023, Joshi posted a tweet mocking "truthers" who doubted the unverified claims coming out of Israel. He shared a video of an Israeli official and amplified the horrific, sensationalized claim that "many bodies, including those of babies, are without heads."

Recently, Joshi finally deleted this tweet and attempted to walk back his absolute certainty, offering a hollow defense: "Some of these reports have turned out to be untrue, and yes, I was wrong to be as confident... particularly given the fog of war in those initial post Oct 7th days."

This excuse is an insult to the public's intelligence. October 22 was not one of the "initial days" following the attack. It was more than two full weeks later. By that time, the "fog of war" had already lifted enough for the White House to embarrassingly walk back President Joe Biden’s initial claim of having seen photographic evidence. Independent journalists on the ground had already begun confirming that the specific claim of beheaded babies could not be verified.

For a senior editor at one of the world's most prestigious publications to confidently amplify this disinformation weeks after it was flagged is not a mistake made in the chaos of battle. It is a deliberate editorial choice to push a narrative.

The Utility of the Lie

Palestinian Replacement In A Single Picture: al-Tira's school before and after Nakba. The same place but different people

What makes this incident truly reprehensible is not just when the tweet was posted, but how long it was allowed to stay up. Joshi did not delete the tweet and issue his "fog of war" apology a few days, or even a few weeks, after the truth came out and social media was flooded with debunking evidence. He left it up until early 2026.

He allowed a piece of catastrophic disinformation to sit on his public profile for nearly two and a half years.

This exposes the true timeline of atrocity propaganda. The media and political establishment lied --and maintained the lie-- because the lie had excellent utility. It provided the necessary emotional shockwave to justify the leveling of Gaza. By the time Joshi finally hit the delete button years later, the damage was done. The lie had completed its job. Apologizing so late in the game isn't a demonstration of journalistic integrity; it is a frantic attempt to salvage a reputation when the backlash becomes too great to ignore.

But the "beheaded babies" were only the first pillar. The second was the narrative of systemic mass sexual violence --claims that were amplified by the New York Times in its widely criticized "Screams Without Words" article. Much like the beheading claims, these reports relied on unreliable witnesses and "first responders" from ZAKA whose accounts were later proven to be fabrications. When independent investigators and even UN reports raised doubts about the "systemic" nature of these claims, and when evidence of the "Hannibal Directive" --Israeli forces killing their own citizens with tank shells and missiles-- began to emerge, journalists like Joshi did not "change on a dime." They doubled down, using these unverified horrors to silence anyone who dared to question the scale of the violence in Gaza.

As veterans of the revolutions and uprisings know, the "fog of war" is real, but it is an alibi for days, not years. In a real conflict, state actors use journalists as "fliers or kites" to plant lies. A journalist with integrity corrects the record the moment the evidence comes through. Waiting 30 months to delete a lie, or continuing to ignore the "friendly fire" that caused many of the most gruesome scenes on October 7th, is not a mistake; it is a reputation-killer. It proves the lie was maintained because it was useful.

The Political Echo Chamber: Biden and Bibi

Joshi's delayed deletion mirrors the exact tactics used by the political leaders who weaponized the lie in the first place.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office was the original engine of this disinformation, feeding it to Western networks to secure immediate diplomatic backing. Unsurprisingly, Netanyahu never issued an apology or a retraction. Instead, he continued to invoke the most sensationalized versions of the October 7th Raid to justify the ongoing ethnic cleansing of Gaza.

Similarly, U.S. President Joe Biden actively repeated the unverified claims well into 2024, reportedly ignoring the desperate warnings of his own White House aides who knew the reports were unverified. Biden and Netanyahu possessed the truth, but they chose the lie. Like Joshi, they knew that a retraction would immediately undermine the justification for their military campaign.

The Fall of The Economist

This incident is symptomatic of a much larger, darker shift in Western media. Historically, publications such as The Economist prided themselves on subtle, objective, and meticulously verified reporting. Today, however, that subtlety has vanished.

When it comes to Palestine, The Economist has increasingly functioned as an uncritical mouthpiece for the Israeli state, abandoning basic journalistic skepticism to push narratives that serve a specific geopolitical agenda. Amplifying atrocity propaganda weeks after it has been flagged and leaving it published for years strips away any illusion of objectivity.

Conclusion

We must stop accepting the "fog of war" as an alibi for journalistic malpractice and political complicity. The fog of war lasts for days, not weeks, and certainly not years. When a lie is left up long enough to manufacture consent for a genocide, it ceases to be a mistake. It becomes a weapon. And those who wielded it --whether from the podiums of the White House or the editorial desks of The Economist-- must be held accountable for the devastation it caused.