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Zionist Organization of America (ZOA) National President Morton A. Klein and ZOA Director of Research and Special Projects, Liz Berney, Esq. released the following critique:
The New York Times ramped up its unending media war to delegitimize Israel and Israelis in an ugly, libelous, lengthy (almost 15,000-words) anti-Israel propaganda piece entitled, “The Unpunished: How Extremists Took Over Israel” (May 16, 2024).
This long-winded Times hit piece barely mentioned unceasing Palestinian Arab terrorism (the real, overwhelming issue); libelously transformed Palestinians into innocent victims of “Jewish terrorists” (when in fact, “Jewish terrorists” are extraordinarily rare to non-existent); repeatedly libeled innocent Jews as “extremists” and “terrorists”; ignored massive illegal Palestinian Arab building; relied on anti-Israel, foreign-funded NGOs such as Yesh Din that pursue anti-Israel lawfare and fabricate claims against Israelis; omitted and falsified history and international law to attempt to deny the Jewish people’s lawful and historic rights in Judea/Samaria; and promoted hostile Biden administration actions against Israel and harsh sanctions against innocent Israelis.
The Times’ propaganda is designed to undermine all of Israel. For instance, as the ZOA has often explained, and as the Israel Defense and Security Forum (ISDF) of over 22,000 Israeli reserve security officers and operatives likewise explains, Judea/Samaria and its Jewish communities are crucial to Israel’s security. Without them, Israel would be indefensible. The Times’ libelous attacks on Israel’s unquestionable rights to these areas and the Jews living there threaten Israel’s continued existence.
The Times reversed reality regarding who the terrorists are: The Times article repeatedly called Jews and Jewish leaders “extremists,” “illegal settlers,” “Jewish terrorists,” “settlers,” “extremist settlers,” “extremist rabbis,” “ultraright,” “unpunished for their misdeeds,” and “truly radical figures.”
By contrast to the article’s persistent drumbeat of anti-Jewish invective, the article never used the correct terms “Palestinian Arab terrorist,” “Palestinian terrorist,” “Arab terrorist,” “Arab extremist,” “Palestinian radicals,” “radical Islamists,” “extremist imams,” or any variation of such terms.
The Times article also never revealed that Palestinian Arab terrorists have been perpetrating and attempting to perpetrate literally thousands of deadly shooting, firebombing, stabbing, Molotov cocktail, boulder throwing, vehicle ramming, arson and other terror attacks against innocent Jews each and every year. (The Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ huge “Wave of Terror” webpage lists an average of about ten Arab terror attacks on Jews per day. And the list doesn’t even include the enormous number of daily rock-throwing and other “minor” attacks on Jews that also endanger Jewish lives.)
The Times article also never revealed that Palestinian Authority (“PA”) police and security officers (trained by American forces) perpetrated or attempted 150 attacks on Jews during the last year.
The Times article moreover never mentioned that the Palestinian Authority gives $300 million to $400 million of “pay to slay” payments to Arab terrorists to murder Jews each year. Nor did the Times see fit to mention that the PA incites Arabs and Arab children to kill Jews and spill Jewish blood, non-stop, in speeches, media broadcasts, television specials; social media, children’s schools, schoolbooks, official religious sermons; streets, schools and sports teams named after Jew-killers, posters plastered all over honoring Jew-killers, etc., etc.
Nor did the Times mention that a senior Fatah (PA) official recently smuggled advanced combat equipment from Iran into Judea and Samaria, including fragmentation charges, Iranian anti-tank mines, anti-tank missiles, 25 hand grenades, 16 RPGs and 50 pistols.
In the extremely rare instances when the Times’ lengthy anti-Israel screed mentioned any Palestinian Arab terrorism, the article disparaged the Jews who expressed concerns about it, reacted to it, or were victims of it.
For instance, the article portrayed former U.S. Ambassador to Israel David Friedman as a settlement-supporting bankruptcy lawyer uninterested in pursuing a (hostile) American lieutenant’s complaints on behalf of Palestinian Arabs. When Ambassador Friedman responded to the Times that “it was clear that the violence coming from Palestinians against Israelis overwhelmingly was more prevalent” and expressed concerns about the Palestinian “leadership’s embrace of terror and unwillingness to control violence,” the Times disdainfully attributed this to Friedman merely “seeing things differently.”
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