'Collective failure': The Guardian apologizes for review that criticized October 7 documentary

British newspaper The Guardian has apologized for publishing a highly critical review of the film One Day in October, which explores the Hamas massacre on October 7, calling it a "collective failure."

Writing in the section 'Corrections and clarifications' on Monday, The Guardian said that "the unacceptable terms in which [the review] went on to criticize the documentary were inconsistent with our editorial standards."

"This was a collective failure of process and we apologize for any offence caused."

It added that the article had been removed.

The Channel 4 documentary, One Day in October, focuses on Kibbutz Be’eri, where more than 100 of its 1100 residents were murdered and about 30 were kidnapped.

It contains video clips by victims, interviews with survivors, and footage shot by the terrorists themselves.

The reviewer's criticisms 

However, the reviewer, The Guardian writer Stuart Jeffries, said, “Indeed, it does a good job of demonizing Gazans, first as testosterone-crazed Hamas killers, later as shameless civilian looters, asset-stripping the kibbutz while bodies lay in the street and the terrified living hid.”

Jeffries continued by saying how “All our sympathies are with relatable Israelis...By contrast, Hamas terrorists are a generalized menace on CCTV, their motives beyond One Day in October’s remit.”

"If you want to understand why Hamas murdered civilians, though, One Day in October won’t help," he concluded.

The documentary's director, Dan Reed, responded to the apology by writing, "The Guardian disowns its four-star review of my Channel 4 documentary “One Day In October” which scolded me for “othering” some marauding Hamas gunmen by showing their own livestream footage."

Hannah Brown contributed to this report.