The Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth failed to fake an interview with the Hamas Chief in the Gaza Strip Yahya al-Sinwar.

Last Thursday, the Israeli newspaper declared that the top Hamas leader finally spoke to the Israeli media in a ‘rare interview’ after decades of boycott.

Yedioth Ahronoth bragged about the interview, claiming that it was carried out with al-Sinwar to be published in both its newspaper and in La Repubblica and implying that the Hamas leader was notified of that prior to the interview.

As the situation turned skeptical and unclear, Hamas denied that it had conducted the interview with the freelance Italian journalist Francesca Borri for Yedioth Ahronoth in an official press release.

“The Israeli newspaper falsified and modified some of the interview’s content to seem as if carried out with it”, Hamas stated.

Hamas also added that the interview was held upon the request of the journalist for the Italian newspaper La Repubblica and after making sure that she is not an Israeli journalist, seeking clarification from her.

Later on the same day, Yedioth Ahronoth had egg on its face as the Italian journalist spoke out and clarified via a recorded video, which extraordinarily went viral, that the interview was not conducted for the Israeli newspaper, thus confirming that Hamas had no contact with Yedioth Ahronoth before or after the interview.

“I do not work for the Israeli media… if my articles are translated into the Hebrew language, this does not mean I work for the Israeli media”, Francesca Borri said.

After Yedioth Ahronoth failed to sweep its fabricated interview under the rug, it seems that the Israeli newspaper has repudiated honesty and professional standards of journalism, and the question that remained unanswered is, “For what?”