Small Steps: Improved NY Times Language on Target of Hamas Rockets
Earlier this week, we pointed out how a New York Times article about fighting between Israel and Hamas neglected to inform readers that Palestinian rockets were fired indiscriminately toward civilians in Israeli towns and cities.
This was part of how the newspaper created a false equivalence between Hamas’s rocket attacks against civilians, each one a war crime, and Israel’s counterstrikes against Hamas assets in Gaza. Instead of being clear about where those rockets were aimed, the report said only that they were fired “into Israel” or “across much of southern Israel.” It even suggested Israel’s civilians were unintended targets: “On both sides of the Gaza border,” wrote David Halbfinger, the newspaper’s Jerusalem bureau chief, “civilians caught up in the fighting said they felt terrorized by it.” Israel’s civilians weren’t “caught up” in the fighting. They were targeted in the fighting.
With an article published today, entitled “With Small Steps, Palestinians and Israelis Try to Tackle Gaza’s Ills,” the same author took a… small step in the right direction. This article makes clear, at least, that the fighting involved “hundreds of rockets raining down on Israeli cities.” It might not sahre that Hamas is viewed internationally as a terror organization, or that indiscriminately firing into cities is a violation of international law. But rockets raining on cities is certainly more informative than rockets fired into Israel.
More from SNAPSHOTS
Iran is Funding Hamas’s Violent ‘Protests’ at the Border, Media M.I.A.
May 22, 2018
Iran's Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khameini The Islamic Republic of Iran is behind the recent Hamas-orchestrated violent demonstrations—dubbed the “March of Return”—at the Israel-Gaza border, according to Israeli authorities. Yet many major U.S. news outlets [...]
Are Gaza Gunmen “Protesters”? NY Times Refuses to Say
May 21, 2018
After repeatedly insisting that "Israeli soldiers killed 60 protesters" during clashes last Monday, May 14, the New York Times is refusing to clarify whether its count of supposed protesters includes the eight armed Hamas fighters [...]
Bahrain Says Israel Has a Right to Self-Defense, and the Media Shrugs
May 15, 2018
Bahrain's Foreign Minister and then-U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry The foreign minister of the Arab nation of Bahrain, Sheikh Khalid al-Khaalifa declared on May 10, 2018 that Israel has a right to defend itself. [...]
AFP Captions Call Jerusalem Parade Participants Settlers
May 15, 2018
Numerous Agence France-Presse photo captions generalized all participants in Sunday's Jerusalem Flag Parade as "settlers," despite the fact that the crowd hailed from across Israel, within the Green Line, as well as outside. A sampling [...]
Journalist: Hezbollah Shows ‘More Maturity’ Than Israel
May 9, 2018
Hezbollah Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah A Los Angeles Times special correspondent, Nabih Bulos, declared on Twitter on May 7, 2018, that Hezbollah (“Party of God”) shows “more maturity” than Israel. Hezbollah is a Lebanese-based, Iranian-backed, [...]