Grading of the hadith (munkar): It is "da'if munkar" because of Muhammad bin Maslamah al-Wasiti. Several hadith scholars declared him weak ("Tarikh Baghdad", "Mizan al-I'tidal"). Al-Khatib said: "His hadith contains munkar reports with clear chains." However, al-Hakim heard al-Daraqutni say "there is no harm in him", and for this reason al-Hakim declared his hadiths sahih in the Mustadrak.
Defect ('illah): We say: Muhammad bin Maslamah is "alone" in raising this reading to the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), and narrators more trustworthy than him contradicted him by placing it within the mawquf words of Ibn 'Abbas or Sa'id bin Jubayr (as in the Hadith of the Trials, hadith al-futun).

Reference / Source: The Hadith of the Trials was narrated at length by al-Nasa'i (11263), Abu Ya'la (2618), al-Tabari (16/ 164-167), al-Tahawi (66) and Ibn 'Asakir (61/ 81-92) via Yazid bin Harun. According to al-Hafiz Ibn Kathir ("Tafsir" 3/ 153), very little of it is marfu' from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him); all the rest is the mawquf speech of Ibn 'Abbas.

Examination of the reading: Regarding "يُخافُون" (with damma on the ya'), what is "mahfuz" (preserved) is that this was the reading of Sa'id bin Jubayr (al-Tabari 6/ 177). He meant that these two men were from the people of the tyrants and not from the Children of Israel. It is a "shadh" reading, and the readers are unanimous on "يَخافون" (with fatha on the ya') (al-Tabari and others).