The New York Times is always covering itself in glory, but their coverage of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict has been especially something.
Over just the past few days, the paper of record has had to apologize for botching their piece on the stories of the children killed in Gaza:
Correction: We published a picture in error. The child in the photograph of Rahaf al-Masri was not her. We've replaced that photo with one supplied by her family. Rahaf was killed on the first night of the war, as we reported. The photo was wrong. https://t.co/kfOevTPZRz
— Herbert Buchsbaum (@herbertnyt) May 29, 2021
They also included a photo of a 17-year-old alleged terrorist whom they had initially represented as a victim of the conflict:
A 17-year-old was killed in the Gaza conflict this month — one of 69 children killed in fighting between Israel and militants. Now a militant group has claimed him as a member. https://t.co/NNoFN2jNKL
— New York Times World (@nytimesworld) May 30, 2021
And we’re only scratching the surface.
We’ll let tweeter Michael Starr take it from here:
The problems of misinformation and disinformation regarding conflict between Israel and Gaza, are unfolding out of the pages of the New York Times.
The slow leak of corrections also shows the issues with understanding a conflict from the amount of bodies, and without context. pic.twitter.com/Dg9fyVb0Jb
— Michael Starr (@Starrlord89) June 1, 2021
The New York Times published a front page with a collage of child casualties of the recent Gaza-Israel conflagration. Slowly, we are discovering errors and misrepresentations in the piece, which actually serves as a microcosm of the information problems with Gaza.
— Michael Starr (@Starrlord89) June 1, 2021
It should first be noted that there is nothing wrong with mourning the death of civilians, especially children. There is nothing wrong with listing all children killed in war, it IS horrific.
— Michael Starr (@Starrlord89) June 1, 2021
One of the first problems to come out the NYT front page was the use of false images. Below is a picture that was used in the collage by NYT and was purported to be one of the child casualties. https://t.co/vAYvsGLJ0m
— Michael Starr (@Starrlord89) June 1, 2021
This problem is not unique to the NYTs, though others likely do it out of malice. False representations like this one were circulated throughout the recent operation. pic.twitter.com/9aSi9yPcTO
— Michael Starr (@Starrlord89) June 1, 2021
False use of cute children, gore, and tragic imagery is done to inflame passions, and instil hatred toward Israeli forces. Here is an example from the recent conflict, in which pictures from Syria are presented as being from Gaza. https://t.co/6nDVcbzIiT
— Michael Starr (@Starrlord89) June 1, 2021
In previous rounds, there were famous cases of movie stills being passed off as supposed Israeli atrocities. These are not one off incidents. https://t.co/lYWPvIDHxK
— Michael Starr (@Starrlord89) June 1, 2021
Another mistake in NY Times cover was that a 17 year old was actually a member of a terrorist organization.https://t.co/MRr7Tuf3hx… pic.twitter.com/3QFLgNTc5W
— Michael Starr (@Starrlord89) June 1, 2021
Use of child soldiers is nothing new for Palestinian terrorist organizations. When the time comes for casualties to be counted, they are listed as minors, which is correct, but the fact that they are combatants is glossed over.https://t.co/LCl9vsuRz0
— Michael Starr (@Starrlord89) June 1, 2021
In 2014, the Gaza health ministry, run by Hamas and controls the information on casualties, misrepresented a 9 year old auxiliary as a 24 year old soldier. Similarly, there are examples of soldiers in their 20s being listed as 13 year old non-combatants.https://t.co/Sx2g4jO3LI
— Michael Starr (@Starrlord89) June 1, 2021
This also extends to other forms of terrorism such as knife attacks, firebombs, and yes, stone throwing. Child terrorists are killed, hurt, or arrested, but their militant actions are whitewashed, and only their age or body are listed.
— Michael Starr (@Starrlord89) June 1, 2021
Another issue was on the first day of the fighting,a family was killed in Beit Hanoun area, where IDF was not operating. according to IDF spokesman they were killed by an errant Gazan rocket. The two most likely families that this was were included in the NYT article.
— Michael Starr (@Starrlord89) June 1, 2021
There were an estimated 680 Hamas and PIJ rockets to fall in the Gaza Strip. Many appeared to have fallen in populated areas. https://t.co/vbDdp5mHu3
— Michael Starr (@Starrlord89) June 1, 2021
Even with Iron Dome, emergency warning, and shelters, and a dozen civilians were killed in Israel, and around 1325 buildings and 738 cars were damaged by less successful rocket fall. It is unlikely that there was only one incident of damage within Gaza by errant rockets.
— Michael Starr (@Starrlord89) June 1, 2021
sourcing is another issue. Besides Gaza health ministry, outlets often rely on NGOs for information. However, some have links to terrorist organizations or even active members terrorists within their ranks. This is the case with a source of NYT’s story. https://t.co/iSoAKlE514
— Michael Starr (@Starrlord89) June 1, 2021
This is far from the first time shady NGOs have been used as sources of information. It happens all the time.https://t.co/8wtlGLwsWP
— Michael Starr (@Starrlord89) June 1, 2021
The above doesn’t capture all the problems or the scale in which they occur. Not does it address the problem of context. The IDF conducted an operation to remove a military threat, not to kill children.
— Michael Starr (@Starrlord89) June 1, 2021
Among operations, this one stands out for accuracy. Over 1000 airstrikes, vast majority of 230 casualties were 160 enemy combatants, not civilians. It’s important to keep this context in mind, just as it’s important to keep in mind the worst cost of war.https://t.co/6AZQuUdJlG
— Michael Starr (@Starrlord89) June 1, 2021
I don’t believe that the NYT acted maliciously or intentionally misled. There is an active campaign to warp and misrepresent information that comes out of Gaza, and to appeal to those that think that can understand a conflict solely by amount of children dead.
— Michael Starr (@Starrlord89) June 1, 2021
Starr is more gracious toward the New York Times than we’re inclined to be. The Times have demonstrated their willingness to peddle anti-Israel, antisemitic, pro-terrorist propaganda too many times for us to believe it’s just an innocent mistake.
But we wholeheartedly agree with Starr on this:
The death of Palestinian children is tragic. However the use of their bodies by terrorist organizations as tools for propaganda is ghoulish, and must be fought.
— Michael Starr (@Starrlord89) June 1, 2021
The New York Times, like other major media outlets, are well positioned to fight it. We’d sure like to see them do it.