The New Hamas Times

by Phyllis Chesler

The New York Times simply cannot help themselves. Every time they write about Israel/Hamas/Gaza/Palestine they get it all wrong.

Their anti-Israel bias and their pro-Hamas bias is malicious. It also constitutes incitement to genocide since so many Westerners swear by what they read here.

I–and many others–have documented this pernicious bias hundreds of times and it has made no difference. The Times just digs its heels even harder. Why do I even bother? I just can’t help myself.

Someone has to speak truth to power. One must stand up to say that the Emperor is oh-so-very naked. As Edmund Burke said: “All that is necessary for the forces of evil to win in the world is for enough good men (and women) to do nothing.”

Let’s look at the language the Times uses. The piece, by Farnaz Fassihi and Isabel Kershner, is titled, “Signs of Sexual Abuse in Several Locations in Hamas Attack.” “Signs?” Only “signs?” In “several locations?” Not in the south of Israel? Not at a music festival? Not as strategized and funded by Iran and launched by Hamas?

Online, the Times changed the title to “U.N. Team Finds Grounds to Support Reports of Sexual Violence in Hamas Attack.” Of course, they also discuss “reports of abuse of Palestinians in Israeli detention.” Of course.

Here’s their language in a previous piece based on Gazan Health Ministry statistics.

On February 29th, 2024, the Times titled their article: “As Hungry Gazans Crowd in an Aid Convoy, a Crush of Bodies, Israeli Gunshots and a Deadly Toll.” The authors, Hiba Yazbek and Aaron Boxerman write:

“The Gazan Health Ministry said in a statement that Israeli forces had killed more than 100 people and injured 700 others in a ‘massacre’, as they waited for food from the convoy. The latest bloodshed came as Gaza’s health officials reported that the death toll from the war had risen above 30,000, a grim milestone that intensified pressure on Israel to end its military offensive.”

They do not write that Hamas “claims” that this number is accurate or that there are “signs” or “grounds” for believing these figures.

Why do they refuse to understand who Hamas officials really are–yes, including the Health Ministry? They are terrorists, not resistance fighters. Even President Biden “told reporters that he had ‘no confidence’ in how Hamas-controlled Ministry of Health in the Gaza Strip has calculated the mounting death toll.”

On the same date, (February 29th), another articles in the Times, by Victoria Kim, titled “Death Toll in Gaza Passes 30,000,”  begins this way: “The death toll in Gaza passed a somber milestone on Thursday as the local health ministry reported that more than 30,000 people had been killed in the war since October 7…The figures provided by the Gazan health ministry do not distinguish between civilians and combatants.”

Why not be fair and at least mention the far more accurate numbers which are kept by the Israeli Defense Forces concerning the number of Israelis murdered since 10/7 (approximately 2,692). This includes civilians, hostages, soldiers, and police officials. Then add to that the number of Israelis who have been displaced from both the north and the south (200,000? A bit more? Less?)

Why is the New York Times still falling for Hamas’s every trick? And inciting the entire world into genocidal Jew hatred? Inflaming the mobs who have been stabbing and shooting Jews, calling for “death to Israel,” blocking traffic, harassing politicians?

But first, contrast the tentative language employed in the March 4 article about Hamas’s sexual barbarism on 10/7, with the language that the NYT used about the so-called Israeli bombing of the Ahli hospital in Gaza City. They headlined it: “The Gaza Hospital where hundreds were reported killed is a mainstay for Palestinians.” Their reporter begins:

“The Ahli Arab Hospital in Gaza City, where Palestinian authorities say hundreds of people were killed by an explosion on Tuesday, has a long history in the region…. (according to the hospital): ‘Hospitals and patients in Gaza are in grave danger,’ (according to the most Rev. Justin Welby, the archbishop of Canterbury) ‘Hospitals and patients in Gaza are facing catastrophe.’”

According to the Times, “the Episcopal Church in Jerusalem condemned the strike on the hospital. Gaza remains bereft of safe havens.”

I must ask– why does the NYT still believe what Hamas officials, especially Hamas health officials, tell them? For that matter, why believe everything that so-called “experts” sent by the UN more than five months after 10/7 believe?

A multitude of articles have documented what Professor Richard Landes long ago termed “Pallywood,” something in which Hamas and the PLO specialize, namely, civilian actors playing the part of wounded teenagers, corpses that are seen jumping out of ambulances once they’ve cleared camera range, suffering Arabs who really did their suffering in other Middle East countries and even in other wars. Only Hamas-vetted journalists were allowed into the Gaza strip and if they reported anything true, they would immediately lose their precious “access.”

How do Blood Libels start? Easy. Just rely on Hamas officials as your news source. The Western media does just that. Take their coverage of the alleged Israeli bombing of a hospital. According to Landes:

“At 6:59 p.m. on Oct. 17, a blast occurred in the parking lot of the Al-Ahli hospital. The crater it left was small and shallow, and the explosion that followed was a sudden fireball that left two fires burning in the parking lot. The hospital was undamaged, except for some broken windows on the blast side, and half a dozen cars were strewn around, badly burned…Anyone who saw the crater knew right away that it was what observers call a ‘fell-short’: a Palestinian rocket that never made it to its target in Israel.

Hamas had a massive advantage in circulating the accusation that Israel struck a hospital killing hundreds, since there were few or no Western reporters in Gaza at that time. Hamas still had one problem: As soon as the evidence came out, its story would collapse. Therefore, within a limited window, it had to supply Western media with the semblance of evidence to get them to bite and run with the story, long enough for the Hamas version to take hold around the world… The ruse succeeded. Like stenographers, the Western media reported the Hamas version as the headline news item.

However, the NYT remains perfectly content to cite as its source a ‘spokeswoman for the Gazan health ministry, which is overseen by Hamas,’ asserting ‘that the death toll was expected to rise as bodies were pulled from the rubble.’ After quickly noting the highly dubious source, almost as a formality, journalists ran with the Hamas narrative.”

As a psychologist, I can confirm that the first picture or story out, even if it has been photoshopped, has the most forceful and permanent effect. Corrections–even major corrections–matter much less.

Filmmaker Pierre Rehov has also documented the industry of fake news perfected by Arabs in Gaza and in in Yehuda and Shomron.

Please read how Israeli officials sound, how sober, and how painstaking their attempts are to estimate the number of our dead. And how long they take to revise their statistics.

The Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD) reports that “Israel revised its estimated death toll from the October 7 massacre by Hamas to approximately 1,200 people after five weeks of forensic struggle to identity the victims. Foreign Ministry spokesman Lior Haiat released the figure on November 9. ‘This is the updated number,’ Haiat told AFP. ‘It is due to the fact that there were a lot of corpses that were not identified and now we think those belong to terrorists… not Israeli casualties.’” The previous estimate was 1,400 people, shared by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to visiting U.S. President Joe Biden on October 18.

Haiat cautioned, “’This is not a final number. It is an updated estimate,’ which may be updated again. The new figure includes 845 civilians and more than 350 troops, police, and security personnel. Some of the 239 people taken hostage by Hamas may also have been killed outright or shortly after being taken into captivity. Another 13 people remain unaccounted for. Numerous bodies have yet to be identified, but Israeli officials said most belong to terrorists killed while perpetrating the massacre.”

I would strongly suggest that the NYT check with the Israeli Foreign Ministry every time Hamas officials allege anything.

PUBLISHED ORIGINALLY BY THE NEW ENGLISH REVIEW