The New York Times’ Double Standards

In the bias and malevolence of its coverage of the IDF and Israel, the New York Times has few equals in the American mainstream media. Just now it has been reporting on those, both Palestinians and soldiers, who accuse the IDF of using Palestinians as human shields in Gaza. More on the Times’ credulous coverage of this story can be found here: “Double Standards as New York Times Accuses IDF of Using Palestinians as Human Shields,” by Simon Plosker, Algemeiner, October 22, 2024:

Replete with a headline designed to tarnish Israel’s entire military, The New York Times recently published an investigation alleging that IDF soldiers were using Gazans as human shields during operations in the Gaza Strip.

The idea seems to be that the IDF uses Palestinians to accompany them when they first enter an area, and to go first into buildings that may be booby-trapped, before the IDF soldiers go in, or they are made to walk alongside IDF tanks, as a putative protection against attack by Hamas. No one has produced any evidence to support such charges.

In order to make its case, The New York Times says it “interviewed 16 Israeli soldiers and officials who knew about the practice, as well as three Palestinians, on the record, who were forced to take part in it.”

While the small number of Palestinians are named, the Israelis are not. It is always problematic to present anonymous testimony in a story where we don’t know the motivations behind those who are talking to the journalists.

Why were the 16 Israeli soldiers not named? Could it be because they knew their claims were doubtful, and didn’t want to be exposed? Some of them may have been far-left peaceniks, trying to arouse public anger in Israel against the IDF, in the hope of forcing the government to agree to an immediate ceasefire. Some may have genuinely misunderstood what the Palestinians present at IDF operations were doing. A Palestinian accompanying an IDF patrol might be voluntarily aiding the IDF to locate Hamas operatives and weapons, in the hope of sparing his home or hometown from being massively shelled.

Two of the Israelis, however, were connected to The New York Times through Breaking the Silence, whose motivations are very clear.

The organization, which was founded in 2004 by former IDF soldiers who are highly critical of Israel, claims to “expose the public to the reality of everyday life in the Occupied Territories” using testimonies that are purported to be “meticulously researched” while “all facts are cross-checked with additional eyewitnesses.”…

“Breaking the Silence” is a group of former IDF soldiers who are critical of Israel, and want to “expose the public to the reality of everyday life in the Occupied Territories.” The very fact that they use the phrase “Occupied Territories” indicates their embrace of the Palestinian cause, and their willingness to blacken the image of the IDF. A number of soldiers who have provided testimonies of IDF misconduct to Breaking the Silence turn out to have been paid to provide their stories; one wonders how much was real, and how much was made up by these soldiers in order to receive payments from the group.

Yet when it comes to New York Times coverage of and investigations into the IDF, it’s impossible to ignore the Gray Lady’s wider agenda that continuously seeks to delegitimize Israeli self-defense against the terrorists who are currently attacking it from multiple fronts.

For example, only days ago, the paper published an article that accused Israel of committing war crimes and “shooting children at point-blank range.” That story also relied on questionable testimonies and even more questionable X-rays purporting to show IDF bullets lodged in the heads of Palestinian children. The very authenticity of the X-rays was called into question, as the entire story was torn apart online….

Forensic experts who examined the X-ray photographs of dead children’s heads with bullets lodged in them concluded that they were fakes. For more on that particular scandal, in which The New York Times credulously accepted the Palestinian story, and refused to accept the scathing testimony of experts that debunked the claims of “65 Palestinian doctors and nurses,” see here.

Hamas’ policy of embedding its operatives, and hiding its weapons, within areas populated by civilians, is central to its war making. It does everything it can to increase civilian casualties, because it knows that their deaths will aid its propaganda campaign against Israel. As Yahya Sinwar said, the deaths of Palestinian civilians are the “necessary sacrifices” that must be made in fighting the Zionist enemy.

AUTHOR

Hugh Fitzgerald

EDITORS NOTE: This Jihad Watch column is republished with permission. ©All rights reserved.