An Israeli newspaper sparked outrage after publishing an article that advised readers “How you can use the stress from the Israel-Hamas war to reduce weight.”
The Jerusalem Post posted a link to the X social media site promoting the story that included the hashtags “#Israel,” “#HamasTerrorists,” “#Gaza” and “#weightloss.”
The backlash prompted the newspaper to delete the article, though the story, which was published on Sunday, can still be accessed via the Wayback Machine web archive.
“The continuing state of stress and anxiety in Israel has led to weight gain for a lot of, but understanding how stress works can actually aid in shedding kilos while maintaining overall health,” read the subheading of the story, which was translated from the Hebrew-language news site Walla!, a subsidiary of The Jerusalem Post.
“The article in query was produced by our Hebrew-language sister publication, Walla News, and was uploaded to our website using an automatic translation mechanism,” Avi Mayer, The Jerusalem Post’s editor-in-chief, told The Recent York Post.
“It didn’t meet our editorial standards and was thus removed once our staff was made aware of it.”
The story, which was written by an Israeli doctor who runs a medical weight reduction clinic, was written amidst the continued war between Israel and Hamas, the Gaza-based Palestinian terrorist organization whose surprise cross-border assault on Oct. 7 ignited the carnage that has left 1000’s dead.
The Jerusalem Post, an English-language Israeli newspaper, deleted a story about how one can “use wartime stress to reduce weight.”
“Prolonged hours spent in front of the tv, lack of physical activity, and emotional eating to seek out comfort all make it difficult to take care of a healthy weight-reduction plan,” the creator of the story, Dr. Raz Hagoel, wrote.
Hagoel noted that “stress-induced lack of sleep experienced over the past two weeks can result in obesity.”
Israelis who’re hunkered down in bomb shelters while Palestinian rockets and missiles rain down on their cities can take solace within the proven fact that “this current period may very well present a possibility to handle the problem of obesity and stay healthy.”
The image above shows a screenshot from The Jerusalem Post website. The Recent York Post has sought comment from the publication.jpost.com
Hagoel wrote that “shorter periods of stress can actually suppress appetite hormones” and that “stress and anxiety could cause stomach disorders, leading individuals to avoid or reduce food intake and potentially experience weight reduction.”
The publication has a print circulation of 15,000 but has about 4 million online readers.
Follow together with The Post’s live blog for the most recent on Hamas’ attack on Israel
X users blasted the outlet for the story.
“Assumed this was a parody in questionable taste. (The hashtags with #weightloss as a punchline gave the look of a giveaway.) But It’s real. And in questionable taste,” creator Kurt Andersen wrote on X.
Israeli forces shot up flares over Gaza City on Monday as ground forces entered the territory in the hunt for Hamas terrorists.REUTERS
One other X user wrote: “Yikes! I needed to double-check that this wasn’t a ‘Jerusalem Post’ fake account. There may be a crisis in journalism.”
X user Ashton Pittman wrote: “Hot take: War just isn’t a weight reduction plan.”
“This seems like AI-generated text gone improper,” one other X user wrote.
