The Week in Whoppers: Portugal’s Palestine Recognition, Civil-Rights Misstatements, and Genocide Claims
A roundup of disputed claims and corrections across politics, from foreign recognitions to U.S. civil-rights debates and media accountability
Editors at the New York Post highlighted a string of disputed claims this week, spanning foreign recognition, U.S. civil-rights debates, and political rhetoric. One episode involved a Portuguese government tweet that appeared to recognize a Palestinian state but showed the flag of Sudan, prompting questions about the accuracy of such recognitions and the messaging behind them.
Separately, NBC News issued a correction to a report about Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents and a 5-year-old autistic girl. The network said the child was found after her father, who had been arrested on domestic-abuse and related charges, fled with the girl during an encounter with the agency. In its corrected account, officials said agents rescued the girl and contacted local police, who returned her to her family. Critics quickly seized on the initial report to advocate for abolishing ICE, a point amplified by Rep. Ilhan Omar and others before the correction was published.
On the U.S. political front, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez claimed that Charlie Kirk opposed the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and implied that he opposed the right of Black Americans to vote. The Post notes that Kirk did not oppose equal rights; rather, he criticized how the Civil Rights Act has been used to advance policies some conservatives view as discriminatory in later applications. The article also clarifies that voting rights were established by the 15th Amendment in 1870 and later reinforced by the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
At the United Nations, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan presented a photo he described as evidence of Gazan starvation and genocide. The Post Editorial Board noted that the image had already been shown to be staged, and that the broader claim of genocide remains unsubstantiated by verified evidence.
Compiled by The Post Editorial Board, the week’s segment illustrates how misinformation and mischaracterizations can spread quickly in political discourse, and how corrections can come after initial reporting and commentaries. The note underscores the importance of checking visual and factual claims, whether they originate from foreign governments, lawmakers, or international figures.