Serious doubts arise on triplets named for slain teens
Reports on NY couple’s choice are based on a single FB post, and remain unconfirmed; false photo circulates with story
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As of Friday morning, the veracity of a report on Thursday that claimed triplets born in New York had been named for three slain Israeli teenagers remained highly questionable and unconfirmed.
The rumor was sparked by a Facebook post authored by a young girl in the UK, who congratulated a Miriam Yocheved Cohen for naming her newly born triplets “Eyal Yosef, Gil-ad Menahem, and Naftali Chaim,” for the murdered yeshiva students Eyal Yifrach, 19, Gil-ad Shaar, 16, and Naftali Fraenkel, 16. “Menahem” is a Hebrew word for comfort, and “Chaim” means life.
An unknown Facebook user took a screenshot of the girl’s Facebook post, which subsequently went viral, and was picked up by The Jewish Press, The Times of Israel, and various Hebrew media.
Later, a photo of a young couple holding newborn triplets circulated in conjunction with the story.
The photograph bears no connection to the story, and according to the Ynet news website, is a picture of an Israeli couple who gave birth to triplets in January.
On Friday afternoon, the girl who initiated the rumor wrote: “Guys stop sharing the status about the triplets who named there [sic] kids after the boys who got killed heard rumours it might not be true but don’t know that for a fact,” raising further doubts about the already dubious story.
The Times of Israel has not been able to locate the Cohen family, and an inquiry to the girl behind the post remained unanswered.
The Fraenkel, Shaar, and Yifrach families have been said to be informed of the unsubstantiated story, and according to the Hebrew NRG website, were greatly moved.
The Times of Israel Community.