The NY Times: Palestinian propaganda or journalism?
The NY Times: Palestinian propaganda or journalism?

The New York Times publishes many articles about the Palestinian Arabs, the Israelis and their shared animosity and conflicts. Over time, a pattern has emerged, the articles are devoid of any meaningful reference to Palestinian Arab terror organizations. Lacking candor, the reader will have to decide if they are legitimate journalism or merely a form of Palestinian propaganda.

Three articles chosen from a long list will be discussed and illustrate this:

I. December 30, 2018: “A Day, a Life: When a Medic Was Killed in Gaza, Was It an Accident?”

II. August 13, 2014: “Two Journalists Among 6 Dead in Gaza Bomb- Disposal Accident”

III. August 15, 2014: “Resisting Nazis, He Saw Need for Israel. Now He Is Its Critic”

News Article I: “A Day, a Life: When a Medic Was Killed in Gaza, Was It an Accident?"

New York Times Narrative: 

The New York Times wrote that Rouzan al-Najjar was a 20-year-old medic, killed by an IDF sniper while treating the wounded at the Hamas-sponsored violent demonstrations along the Gaza-Israel border fence.

The NewYork Times described her as a natural leader, a capable young medic, self-taught, a feminist, a daughter who doted on her father, a photogenic symbol of nationhood, youth and compassion. 

The article referenced the term “war crime” several times, citing:

1- Though Israel later admitted her killing was unintentional, the shooting appears to have been reckless at best, and possibly a war crime, for which no one has yet been punished. 

2- To deliberately shoot a medic, or any civilian, is a war crime. 

3- Prof. Ryan Goodman, a New York University expert on the laws of war, who was a special counsel to the Pentagon on war crimes and targeting rules, said the key to whether a war crime was committed was whether the sniper was aware of a high risk that civilians would be harmed. 

This is how the New York Times researched the story: 

In Gaza, the NY Times interviewed Najjar’s family, friends, colleagues, former teachers, the doctors who attempted to save her life. They even interviewed Najjar before she was shot. They studied autopsy records, ballistics evidence with former snipers and crime scene investigators, they analyzed over 1,000 photos and videos taken the day of Najjar’s shooting, reviewed the visual evidence with over 30 witnesses, took drone video of the protest field, created a 3D model of the shooting, collected cellphone videos, retraced the path of the bullet, interviewed Gaza health officials and Israeli military officials, military lawyers, visited Israeli sniper positions at the fence, spoke to NGOs, experts in international law to assess whether the shooting may have been a war crime. 

The reporting team included Yousur al-Hlou, Malachy Browne, Iyad Abuheweila, Neil Collier, Ibraham el-Mughrabi, and John Woo.

Six researchers, headed by veteran journalist David Halbfinger, conducted the six-month long investigation of the death of  Rouzan al-Najjar.

Everyone, from family and friends, to teachers and colleagues was interviewed. Najjar herself was interviewed before her death. An extensive forensic analysis of her shooting was done, lawyers, military men, health officials were consulted, no proverbial stone was left unturned.

Najjar was described as a leader, a capable medic, a symbol of nationhood. 

So what was missing from the NY Times Narrative? And how could anything important be missing after a 6 month investigation?

After its exhaustive, comprehensive six month investigation, this is what the NY Times did not include in the article: 

Rouzan al-Najjar was a member of a terrorist organization, the Democratic Front For the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP). 

Partial translation of the DFLP webpage above:

Gaza (Al-Shaheed Omar al-Qasim Network)-calling the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (UDF) to our Palestinian people, its heroine, comrade Razan Ashraf al-Najjar, a member of the Federation of Palestinian Labor committees--the women's framework of the Democratic front--which was cited on Friday during its humanitarian and national duty in Ambulance wounded in the return marches in Juma «from Gaza to Haifa alone.. Blood and common destiny. "

The DFLP webpage displaying Rouzan al-Najjar’s picture, is a terrorist website. Her picture is shared with two pictures that reference the National Resistance Brigades, the military  wing of the DFLP:

Her picture appears on the DFLP webpage together with a picture of a Kornet anti-tank guided missile (lower left corner).

Background information:

Pictured below are two DFLP terror operatives, killed by the IDF in a Gaza cemetery. Muhammad Hamdi Abd a-Rahman Salem and Rami Hamdi Abd a-Rahman Salem  were firing rockets into Israel, August 21, 2014, targeting civilians, a war crime:


The Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine, quoting  Wikipedia, “is a Palestinian Marxist-Leninist-Maoist secular political and militant organization”. Its leader and founder is Nayef Hawatmeh.

-The United States Department of the Treasury, Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) SDN [Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons] List shows “Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine - Hawatmeh Faction”; Type: Entity; Program: SDT [Specially Designated Terrorist]

-The OFAC SDN List shows “Nayif Hawatma”; Type: Individual; Program: SDT [Specially Designated Terrorist], Secretary General of DFLP - Hawatmeh Faction; date of birth: 1933

The SDN List was last updated on: 12/19/2018 12:33:21 PM

-DFLP and Hawatmeh appear on the SDN sanctions list, blocked, designated and identified pursuant to the Terrorism Sanctions Regulations, 31 C.F.R. part 595.(See appendix for text of regulations)

Conclusion

Rouzan al-Najjar was a member of the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine, a terrorist organization, a fact never presented in the NY Times article. Her involvement with the terrorist organization, if disclosed by the NY Times, may have led readers to question the veracity of the entire article, the veracity of the entire NY Times ‘investigation”, a six month project that could not have been inexpensive.

News Article 2. “Two Journalists Among 6 Dead in Gaza Bomb-Disposal Accident”

New York Times Narrative:

In an article published August 13, 2014, the New York Times wrote about an accident in Gaza involving an unexploded Israeli ordinance that killed 5 Palestinian Arabs and one Italian videographer. The title was “Two Journalists Among 6 Dead in Gaza Bomb-Disposal Accident”.

The article told the story of two journalists, an Italian and his Palestinian Arab translator, who were reporting a story for the Associated Press. They were present to document the work of the Gaza Police EOD unit, the Explosive Ordinance Disposal unit of the Gaza police. Something went wrong, the unexploded-ordinance detonated and six individuals were killed, the two journalists and four Gaza policeman, members of the bomb squad.

The Italian videographer, Simone Camilli, was the only international journalist killed in the 2014 Gaza war. 

The article describes Ali Shihda Abu Afash as a Palestinian journalist (reporter), Simone Camilli’s translator, the father of two young girls, a computer engineer who quit his job …to work with journalists.

The article stated that Taysir al Houm was the head of the police bomb-disposal unit in North Gaza and Hazem Abu Murad was the chief of the entire squad. According to the article, both died instantly when the ordinance exploded, together with another police expert, Bilal Mohammad Sultan [not named in the NY Times article]. The article reported a fourth member of the police bomb squad, critically wounded, died hours later. His name [not reported in NY Times article] was  Saeed Talal Saeed Salman.

The article revealed that Abu Murad had a degree in Islamic law, Mr. Abu Afash was an advocate for young Palestinians trying to succeed as freelance journalists. The NY Times wrote that the bomb disposal squad did not wear protective gear as they responded to calls from concerned citizens who found unexploded ordinance in their neighborhoods and that the vast majority of the munitions are Israeli.

What was missing from the New York Times narrative?

1- Abu Afash the journalist, the computer engineer, the advocate, was a member of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, a Foreign Terrorist Organization.

The Association of Martyr Youssef Abu Ghaben "Saadawi" salutes the day of Martyr al - Jabbawi 10:09 - March 30, 2015

The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) in the Gaza Strip organized the Martyr Guevara Martyr Association in Gaza.

The ceremony was attended by a large number of comrades, friends, members of the organization, and its members and cadres of the Front in the province in addition to the wide participation of the families of the martyrs and their families.

At the end of the ceremony, the honoring committee presented the honorary shield to the families of the martyrs … Ali Hassan Abu Afsh…

(The  narrative above was translated from the Arabic website of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine.)

2- Taysir al Houm, head of the police bomb disposal unit:

تيسير علي الحوم

الشمال

قائد ميداني

2014-08-13

Tayseer Ali Al-Houm

North

Field Commander

2014-08-13

الشهيد القسامي/ تيسير علي عبد الجواد الحوم

تميز بالابتسامة الدائمة وبروح الشجاعة والإقدام

The martyr al - Qasami / Tayseer Ali Abdul - Jawad Al - Houm, Distinguished by the constant smile and courageous spirit

Tayseer al-Houm was a Field Commander, Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades, military wing of Hamas, a Foreign terrorist Organization. (Arabic text above was taken from the Izz al-Din webpage and translated by Google Translate.)

3- “another police expert” who was killed instantly: 

بلال محمد أحمد السلطان

الشمال

مجاهد قسامي

2014-07-13

Bilal Mohammed Ahmed Sultan

North

Mujahid Qusami

2014-07-13

الشهيد القسامي / بلال محمد أحمد السلطان

جنودُ اللهِ في ساحات الكرامة

The martyr al - Qasami / Bilal Mohammed Ahmed Sultan

Soldiers of God in the squares of dignity


Bilal Mohammed Ahmed Sultan was a member of the Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of Hamas, a Foreign Terrorist Organization. (The Arabic text was taken from the Izz al-Din webpage and translated by Google Translate.)

4- “…fourth member of the bomb squad … died later.”:

سعيد طلال سعيد سلمان

الشمال

مجاهد قسامي

2014-08-13

Saeed Talal Saeed Salman

North

Mujahid Qusami

2014-08-13

الشهيد القسامي / سعيد طلال سعيد سلمان

الوجه الأنور والروح الأسعد

The Martyr al-Qsami/Saeed Talal Saeed Salman

The face of the soul and the happiest spirit

5- Hazem Abu Murad, chief of bomb squad: 

The picture above identifies Murad with the  Hamas logo.

In the picture above, Murad is seen wrapped in a burial shroud with the  Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades, military wing of Hamas, logo. Both Izz al-Din and Hamas are Foreign Terrorist Organizations.

Conclusions:

With the exception of the Italian videographer,, all 5 individuals were members of Foreign Terrorist Organizations, three were terror combatants, members of Izz al-Din, one was PFLP and one was either Hamas, Izz al-Din or both.

What happened in that soccer field in 2014, in fact,  may not have been what the NY Times reported. The article stated that the Gaza bomb squad  responds to calls from concerned citizens who find unexploded ordinances in their neighborhoods, they defuse the ordinances and render them safe. In this instance, the process failed and six people died.

The entire incident may not have been about rendering a hazardous ordinance safe as the NY Times  unquesitoningly reported. A retired United States Air Force member with the EOD unit, an Unexploded Ordinance Tech, stated:

"This supposed Bomb Tech [al Houm]was not a Bomb Tech. First rule is minimum personel on site, this minimizes threat, and prevents exactly what happened, where a detonation of the item of his immediate concern kills multiple people. Five deaths, he wasn't performing an RSP (Render Safe Procedure)… Secondly, he removed the item to the football field across the street from the Police Department, with other ordnance. This allowed the first detonation to cause a second detonation, all unsafe ordnance is seperated a safe distance to prevent this, he didn't. He was in a war zone, you don't collect ordnance, you render them safe, then dispose of them.

"EOD are first responders, and their mission is to save lives, … wasn't EOD, he was a terrorist. He was not rendering hazardous ordnance safe, he was collecting dud ordnance to harvest explosives for HAMAS IEDs...".

News Article 3: “Resisting Nazis, He Saw Need for Israel. Now He Is Its Critic”

On August 15, 2014, the New York Times published an article with the title, “Resisting Nazis, He Saw Need for Israel. Now He Is Its Critic”. Criticism of this article is old news. The omissions, false statements  and concealed facts were widely publicized by bloggers and media outlets several years ago. The article is included in this discussion because it is one of the best examples of what the New York Times has been doing for years.

The New York Times Narrative

The article was about Henk Zanoli, a Dutch citizen who had received a medal from Israel, a medal honoring him as one of the Righteous Among the Nations, a non-Jew who saved Jews during the Holocaust. He returned the medal to Israel after he alleged that Israel had murdered his innocent Palestinian family, the Ziadeh family,  in the 2014 Gaza war, Operation Protective Edge. Using his family as an example, he also criticized Israel for the way it treats the Palestinian people.

The entire New York Times article subtly attacks Israel, including the following phrases: murder carried out by the State of Israel; the moral debate over Israel’s military air and ground assault in the Gaza Strip, 2,000 people, a majority of them civilians, killed; Europeans have become more critical; Israel blames; criticism of Israeli policy; turn into aggressors; the Zionist project had a racist element; building a state exclusively for Jews; ethnic cleansing; Israel continues to suppress and occupy Palestinian areas; the quagmire the Jewish people of Israel have gotten themselves into; displacement of Palestinians.

The article contains an unverified statement by a Ziadeh family member. He said  that none of those killed in the attack on the house were militants, no-one was a terror operative.

One of the six family members killed in the attack was Omar Shaaban Ziadeh

What was missing from the NY Times Narrative?

This is Omar Shaaban Ziadeh:

الوسطى

مجاهد قسامي

2014-07-20

Omar Shaaban Ziadeh

Central

Mujahid Qusami

2014-07-20

الشهيد القسامي / عمر شعبان حسن زيادة

حمل الهم حتى نال الشهادة

The martyr al - Qasami / Omar Shaaban Hassan Ziadeh

Carrying care until he got the certificate

The above picture and narrative translated from an Arabic webpage, came from the website of the Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of Hamas. Omar Shaaban Ziadeh was an Izz al-Din operative. He was not just another ordinary Izz al-Din operative, Omar was a member of the “Special Unit”.

The “Special Unit” “ … conducts infiltration operations behind enemy lines and penetrates Israeli bases … its members are equipped with communications units.”  (The Middle East Media Research Institute)

Discussion:

Omar Shaaban Ziadeh was not the only terrorist in the family house. There was at least one more, possibly more, when the house was destroyed. There was a “house-guest” present, Mohammed Mahmoud al-Maqadma, pictured below (from the Izz al-Din webpage and translated by Google Translate): 

محمد محمد سليم المقادمة

الوسطى

مجاهد قسامي

2014-07-20

Mohamed Mohamed Saleem Maqadma

Central

Mujahid Qusami

2014-07-20

الشهيد القسامي / محمد محمد سليم المقادمة

عين القسام الراصدة للعدو

Martyr al - Qusami / Mohammed Mohammed Salim Al - Maqadma

Al-Qassam assigned to the enemy

With the development of military action after the Battle of Al-Furqan in 2009, Shahidna Mohammed took over the responsibility of the surveillance and reconnaissance unit in the Al-Bureij battalion. He was the one who provided the command with all the information and developments on the border, and the most important operations that he participated in were monitoring the target and determining the targeting of a Zionist military jeep Bureij guided missile during the battle of stone shale.

The following sentence was taken from the NY Times article: “Dr. Zayada said last month that none of his family members were militants.”  

Obviously the above statement is a lie, a lie published by the NY Times as a fact.

This was the narrative the NY Times article presented.

his is what readers of the NY Times article believed after reading the narrative.

This is the narrative that Hamas wants readers to believe, Israel massacres Palestinian civilians like Maqadma and Omar Shaaban Ziadeh, ‘civilians’, killed when the Israelis bombed their house and flattened it for "no known reason".

The facts presented by the Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades website about Omar Ziadeh and Mohammed Maqadma, tell a far different story than what the NY Times published. The Izz al-Din stories reveal what really took place in the Ziadeh house and why it was destroyed along with its occupants.

Omar Ziadeh was a member of the Izz al-Din “Special Unit”, he had communications equipment. Mohammed al-Maqadma was the commander of the surveillance and reconnaissance unit in the Al-Burejj battalion. The house was most likely being used for command and control. 

Summary

The three NY Times articles are totally devoid of any reference to Middle East terror operatives or organizations. The Palestinian Arabs cited in the articles are memorialized, their deaths mourned, their lives celebrated, depicted as ordinary citizens engaged in their work, policemen, medics, journalists, family members, house guests, all needlessly killed as a result of "Israeli aggression."

These are the Palestinian Arab "civilians"" the NY Times wrote about:

1- Rouzan al-Najjar, medic - Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine.

2  Ali Shihda Abu Afash, journalist/reporter/translator - Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine.

3- Tayseer Ali Al-Houm, Gaza policement, bomb-disposal unit - Izz al-Din al- Qassam Brigades.

4- Bilal Mohammed Ahmed Sultan, police expert - Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades.

5- Saeed Talal Saeed Salman, police bomb squad - Izz al-Din Al-Qassam Brigades.

6- Hazem Abu Murad, police bomb squad - Hamas/Izz al-Din.

7- Mohammed Mahmoud al-Maqadma, house guest - Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades.

8- Omar Sha’ban Ziada, family member - Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades.

Cynthia Franklin, PhD, University of Hawaii, has stated, “in this battle of ideas, there are material consequences to how individual lives and deaths are represented, or not represented”.  The “battle of ideas” is another way of saying propaganda.

The NY Times articles  made no reference to Palestinian terrorism.  All eight were members of violent  terrorist organizations but their lives and deaths were not represented to the reader in this context. In the battle of ideas, promoting propaganda , there are material consequences for doing this, Ask Cynthia Franklin.

Closing Comment

The picture below is a portrait of a father and his sons. The New York Times reported that the father, Omar Shaaban Ziadeh, and his 12 year old son, Shaaban Jameel Ziadeh, two of the individuals in the picture, were killed when their house was “flattened” by the Israeli military, for no apparent reason. In the article, a relative is quoted as saying that no family members killed in the house were militants. Omar Shaaban Ziadeh, however, was a member of the military wing of Hamas, the elite Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades 

The NY Times made no mention of the  house guest, Mohammed Mahmoud al-Maqadma. He was also a militant, a terrorist, a member of the military wing of Hamas.

The picture below is an image of Omar, two of his sons, and one of the tools of his trade, the Russian Dragunov sniper rifle. The Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades “Special Unit” is equipped with this weapon. Members of this unit are considered the “pick” of the Izz al-Din fighters. This picture represents everything that is wrong with NY Times journalism.

Omar Shaaban Ziadeh is seen as a proud father with his two young sons who are grasping the barrel of the Dragunov sniper rife, from father to son, like father to son, a Palestinian culture of terrorism and Islamic fanaticism , a narrative completely missing in the articles published by the New York Times.



Appendix: 

Title 31: Money and Finance: Treasury

Part 595 - Terrorism Sanctions Regulations

Subpart C - General Definitions

§ 595.311 Specially designated terrorist.

the term specially designated terrorist means:

Persons listed in the Annex to Executive Order 12947 of January 23, 1995, as amended;

Foreign persons designated by the Secretary of State, in coordination with the Secretary of the Treasury and the Attorney General, because they are found:

to have committed, or pose a significant risk of committing acts of violence that have the purpose or effect of disrupting the Middle East peace process, or

(ii)To assist in, sponsor, or provide financial, material, or technological support for, or services in support of, such acts of violence; and

(3) Persons determined by the Secretary of the Treasury, in coordination with the Secretary of State and the Attorney General, to be owned or controlled by, or to act for or on behalf of, other specially designated terrorist.

The names of persons determined to fall within the above definition, whose property and interests in property therefore are blocked pursuant to this part, are published in the Federal Register and incorporated into the OFAC’s Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons List (“SDN List”) with the identifier “[SDT].”

§595.303 Entity

The term entity means a partnership, association, corporation, or other organization, group or subgroup.

The United States has determined that The Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine has the potential to commit acts of violence and disrupt the Middle East peace process and it possesses the ability to provide financial, technical, and material support for such acts of violence.

The Treasury Department listed the DFLP and Nayef Hawatmeh as Specially Designated Terrorists (SDT) that threaten to disrupt the Middle East peace process in accordance with an Executive Order signed by President Clinton in January 1995. The designation prohibits all financial transactions with the DFLP and Hawatmeh and blocks all of the group’s assets in the U.S.