After a hopeful improvement, the New York Times coverage of the Gaza protests is unfortunately back to its normal one-sided reporting — and intense pressure from Hasbara Central is surely a major reason. Take a look at this tweet yesterday, as the paper’s main reporter, David Halbfinger, jumps to respond to a pro-Israel critic:
Sure enough, Halbfinger promptly added the following sentence to his article: “At another point, an explosive was hung from a kite, but fell on the Palestinian side.”
Ever since Halbfinger’s first decent report a week ago, he has faced a barrage of attacks on Twitter and elsewhere from pro-Israel forces. Camera — the old Hasbara warhorse — takes credit for its “correspondence” with the Times, saying it led the paper to include the assertion in news coverage that the Palestinian right of return “would amount to the destruction of Israel by demographic means.” So it may be no surprise that Halbfinger is backing down.
A question: will the Times respond with the same speed to criticism from our side? Here goes:
- Why doesn’t today’s article point out again that not one single Israeli, soldier or civilian, has gotten even a scratch over the past 3 weeks, while Israelis have killed 34 Palestinians and wounded many hundreds more? (The latest article in the Guardian does report no Israeli casualties whatsoever.)
- Why does the article not include a single quotation from any human rights organizations? B’Tselem, the respected Israeli group, continues to call for Israeli soldiers to refuse to open fire, but you won’t learn that in today’s Times. (The Washington Post quotes Amnesty International.)
- Why won’t the Times note that not one single rocket has been fired from Gaza? If “Hamas” were truly intent on “invading” Israel, wouldn’t they already be firing away?
- Why won’t Halbfinger say that the United States helped block an independent investigation at the United Nations into Israel’s crimes against the Gazan demonstrators — a point made on the Times‘s own editorial page?
Finally, where was the open letter from five former Israeli army snipers, who said they were “filled with shame and sorrow”? The Guardian found room for them:
Instructing snipers to shoot to kill unarmed demonstrators who pose no danger to human life is another product of the occupation and military rule over millions of Palestinian people, as well as of our country’s callous leadership, and derailed moral path.
Maybe David Halbfinger and the New York Times need to have some of these questions raised on their Twitter accounts?
Expected from the NYT. We all know how powerful and well organized the hasbara machine is which must be running at peak output now. How could the spineless NYT do anything but cave in.
Thankfully more and more people are turning to sources that provide the truth. Great article written by Stanley Cohen for counterpunch – he holds nothing back.
https://www.counterpunch.org/2018/04/13/when-zionism-rubs-up-against-reality/
Pushing against the NYT is a bit King Canute-ish. Like Congress, NYT seems to know on which side its bagel is schmaltzed.
For years the NYT told the Palestinians to drop the violence and protest peacefully. Israel shoots to kill regardless.
Stephane Hessel (WW2 veteran and writer) :
https://www.democracynow.org/2011/10/10/stphane_hessel_on_occupy_wall_street_find_the_time_for_outrage_when_your_values_are_not_respected
” I think we have had the possibility of living in democracies. What does it mean? It means places where the privileged are not the one to make the decisions, but that the underprivileged are going to rise to a status where they are normal human beings and human citizens with their freedoms and their rights. When that is no longer the case, whatever the circumstance—in France, with President Sarkozy, definitely; in Spain, perhaps, after many attempts—then it is proper for the young generation to listen to the very old ones who tell them, “We have been resisters at a time where there was fascism or Stalinism. You must find the things that you will not accept, that will outrage you. And these things, you must be able to fight against nonviolently, peacefully, but determinedly.” ”
The NYT is like the house rag of the Batista regime when it comes to Israel
The NYT can’t change. Too many older US Jews believe in Zionism and the side of justice is too scruffy and not respectable.
J. K. Galbraith: “The conventional wisdom”gives way not so much to new ideas as to “the massive onslaught of circumstances with which it cannot contend”.
The NYT can’t see that.
@nytimes Masquerades Israeli #Propaganda as #Journalism on #Gaza Killings https://www.jeremyrhammond.com/2018/04/14/new-york-times-masquerades-israeli-propaganda-as-journalism-on-gaza-killings/ via @JeremyRHammond