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New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman recently said that the two-state solution in Israel/Palestine is, if not already dead, “in hospice.” Now it’s time for news reporters at his paper and other mainstream U.S. media, to look squarely at how and why two states is no longer possible. Instead, the two-state solution is supposedly still the ideal — for the U.S. government, among others. The headline after the U.S. Secretary of State’s arrival in Israel yesterday was, predictably: “Blinken reaffirms need for two-state solution after talks with Netanyahu.”

Once again the “New York Times” launders the dark forces gaining power in Israeli politics. Tensions in the occupied Palestinian West Bank are already at their highest level in years, and yet Israel’s security policy is now in the hands of a fascist who was considered so extreme that he wasn’t even allowed to serve as a foot soldier in the Israeli army when he was younger.

Palestinians carry candles and pictures of slain Al Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh, to condemn her killing at the Manger Square of the Church of the Nativity in the West Bank city of Bethlehem on May 16, 2022. (Photo: Ahmad Tayem/APA Images)

The State Department declares after examining the bullet that the killing of Shireen Abu Akleh was likely by an Israeli soldier but definitely not “intentional.” Really? The U.S. whitewash is brazen. It’s no surprise the State Department hoped Americans were too distracted by Fourth of July fireworks to pay attention. But why does the “New York Times” play along?

The PBS News Hour host rightly grilled Antony Blinken about why Joe Biden is meeting with the Saudi Crown Prince next month despite the 2018 killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi. But Woodruff cannot bring herself to mention Biden’s visit to Israel weeks after its killing of Palestinian-American journalist Shireen Abu Akleh, which it has yet to account for.