Within a few days, the Times twice distorted the threat Palestinian terrorists pose to Israel. We refuse to remain silent about it!
During the past week, The New York Times continued to push a distinctly anti-Israel agenda in two egregious instances.
On May 7, the Times published a feature that exploited Israel’s medical and scientific advances during the coronavirus pandemic to push an image of the IDF as a bloodthirsty killing machine. The article claimed that the IDF’s “research-and-development arm is best known for pioneering cutting-edge ways to kill people and blow things up, with stealth tanks and sniper drones among its more lethal recent projects.”
In truth, Israel has been forced to develop innovative ways to protect innocent civilians from the rockets launched by Hamas and Hezbollah, in addition to combating the threat of suicide bombings, car-rammings, and other types of terror attacks.
In response to the article, titled “Israeli Army’s Idea Lab Aims at a New Target: Saving Lives,” Israeli Ambassador to the U.S. Ron Dermer slammed the newspaper, tweeting, “The New York Times, which buried the Holocaust, is best known for pioneering ways to libel and demonize the Jewish State. Now it is doing the same.”
American Jewish Committee CEO David Harris called the Times’ portrayal of the IDF “vile,” adding that the article should have read, “Israeli Defense Ministry’s research-and-development arm is best known for pioneering cutting-edge ways to defend #Israel since 1948 from annihilation by state/non-state actors.”
Five days later, the Times described the killing this week of IDF soldier Amit Ben Yigal as follows: “A 21-year-old Israeli soldier was killed early Tuesday when he was struck in the head by a heavy rock as his unit was completing a nighttime arrest mission in a Palestinian village near Jenin.”
In reality, the soldier was almost certainly killed by a Palestinian terrorist who deliberately dropped the rock, imitating the murder of Ronen Lubarsky, an Israeli who was killed when a Palestinian terrorist dropped a marble slab on his head from a roof.
In response to the Times’ agenda-driven report on Ben Yigal’s death, Emanuel Miller of watchdog group HonestReporting wrote, “Journalists have a responsibility to accurately, fairly report events. Reporters have a duty to share all the facts. Rocks don’t hit people by themselves, just as car doesn’t drive into people of their own volition.”
Miller added, “Not directly and clearly referring to this as a lethally violent act is inexcusable from reporters of any level, certainly from journalists working for a newspaper of The New York Times’ standing. The rock didn’t simply strike the soldier of its own volition. It was thrown from a height and struck the soldier with great force.”
It’s time to tell the New York Times to stop using its platform to distort the threat Israel faces from its enemies.
Protest the New York Times’ distorted portrayal of Palestinian terrorism!
1. Complain to the NY Times about these distortions at: [email protected]
2. Send the NY Times a letter to the editor by writing to this address: [email protected]
