The New York Times, which has a history of anti-Israel reporting, changed a story, initially calling the murderers of Hamas “terrorists,” then changing that to “gunmen.”
In a story published Tuesday night titled, “Hamas Leaves Trail of Terror in Israel,” the Times initially wrote, “As Israeli soldiers regain control of areas near Gaza that came under attack, they are finding evidence seen in videos and photos and confirmed by witness accounts of the massacre of civilians by Hamas terrorists.” Later, the Times changed the word “terrorists” to “gunmen.”
🚨Holy shit you can’t make this up.
The New York Times published a story referring to Hamas as “terrorists” and then changed it to “gunmen.” pic.twitter.com/zp7vQUrHn3
— Greg Price (@greg_price11) October 11, 2023
After social media users began pointing out the revision, the Times reverted back to using “terrorists.”
In the mid-twentieth century, the Times buried the Holocaust so it didn’t make the front pages, as described in “Buried by the Times: The Holocaust and America’s Most Important Newspaper.” In April 2019, the paper published a cartoon depicting former President Trump as a blind man wearing a skullcap while being led by Netanyahu, who was depicted as a dog on a leash with a Star of David collar.
The Jewish Council for Public Affairs researched 107 editorials on Israel and Jews published in the Times since 2016; David Bernstein, president and CEO of the organization, accused the Times of “a decided institutional bias” against Israel. Roughly a decade ago, the Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting and Analysis (CAMERA) published a pamphlet titled “Indicting Israel: New York Times Coverage of the Palestinian-Israeli Conflict,” that delineated the Times’ consistent bias against Israel.
In December 2022, after it became apparent that Benjamin Netanyahu would be able to form a coalition and once again serve as prime minister of Israel, the Times’ editorial board issued an opinion piece furiously condemning “ultrareligious and ultranationalist parties” that had gained more power in Israel, calling Netanyahu’s prospective government a “significant threat to the future of Israel,” Netanyahu, who has been the longest-serving prime minister in the history of the Jewish state, fired back hard.
The Times published the editorial, titled, “The Ideal of Democracy in a Jewish State Is in Jeopardy,” on the Jewish Sabbath, claiming Netanyahu’s “coalition’s victory was narrow and cannot be seen as a broad mandate to make concessions to ultrareligious and ultranationalist parties that are putting the ideal of a democratic Jewish state in jeopardy.”
“After burying the Holocaust for years on its back pages and demonizing Israel for decades on its front pages, the New York Times now shamefully calls for undermining Israel’s elected incoming government,” Netanyahu blasted on Twitter.
After burying the Holocaust for years on its back pages and demonizing Israel for decades on its front pages, the New York Times now shamefully calls for undermining Israel’s elected incoming government. pic.twitter.com/CqqAoN7lSX
— Benjamin Netanyahu – בנימין נתניהו (@netanyahu) December 18, 2022
The Times is not alone in minimizing the monstrousness of radical Islamists; in 2019, The Washington Post was slammed after it first called ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi a “terrorist-in-chief,” then changed that to “austere religious scholar at the helm of Islamic State.” The Post ultimately settled on “extremist leader.”