NY Times slammed for abominable spinning of vandalism of Hamas hostage posters
The Outnumbered panel discussed the publication's coverage of the vandalism and growing anti-Israel sentiment nationwide as war rages in the Middle East.
Viral videos of anti-Israel and pro-Palestinian protestors tearing down posters of civilians taken by Hamas during the October 7 terrorist attack have inundated social media, and at least one journalism watchdog has accused The New York Times of "both-siding" the issue.
The posters have been plastered across public spaces and universities throughout America, and multiple social media accounts have dedicated themselves to posting video of people tearing them down. Some of the people caught tearing down the posters have lost jobs and been publicly shamed, while others seemed to embrace being caught in the act of destroying them.
Anti-Defamation League CEO Jonathan Greenblatt blasted the "inhumane" act of tearing down the posters.
"It is hard for me to think of something more inhumane than tearing down posters of babies who are kidnaped by a terror organization," Greenblatt told Fox News Digital.
A flyer for kidnapped Israeli, Idan Shtivi, is posted on a pole in New York City, NY, Friday, October 13, 2023. (Fox News Digital)
"These people, I would encourage them to move to Gaza, if you feel so strongly. I would love to see these people relocate to Gaza and see how well they do," Greenblatt continued. "I mean it -- all these activists, all these people parading around with their sanctimony, you know, moralizing against the vast majority of us, send them to Gaza to do their protesting. I hope it goes well for them."
Jewish Iranian-American plastic surgeon Dr. Sheila Nazarian, the star of Netflix’s "Skin Decision: Before and After," was shocked when she heard people ripping down posters suggest the information is somehow now accurate.
"You're essentially witnessing Holocaust denial in real time, right? On so many levels, I mean, bodycam footage of the Hamas terrorists, they're saying that's not real," Nazarian told Fox News Digital. "So, it's like the brainwashing and the indoctrination runs so deep that these people will rip down the poster of a kidnaped child to validate what they believe is true."
New York County public defender Victoria Ruiz was caught on camera tearing down posters of hostages in New York City. She later resigned. (@StopAntisemitism via X)
Some have been irked at The New York Times' recent coverage of the hostage posters being torn down. An Oct. 31 report headlined, "How Posters of Kidnapped Israelis Ignited a Firestorm on American Sidewalks," dove into the polarization of the posters.
"Displaying the posters has become a form of activism, keeping the more than 200 hostages seized by Hamas in full view of the public. But removing the posters has quickly emerged as its own form of protest — a release valve and also a provocation by those anguished by what they say was the Israeli government’s mistreatment of Palestinians in the years before Oct. 7 and since the bombing of Gaza began," Times reporter Katherine Rosman wrote.
"Those who object to the posters have derided them as wartime propaganda. Critics of those tearing them down have characterized the act as antisemitic and lacking basic humanity. Increasingly, the disputes seem to teeter on the brink of violence, a proxy battle for the life-or-death war in the Middle East," the Times reporter added before speaking with multiple people about why they have removed posters.
NYU student Yazmeen Deyhimi and two others were captured on video tearing down Israeli hostage posters on campus. Deyhimi has since apologized. (Screenshot/SSI_NYU on X)
Senior researcher for CAMERA, an organization dedicated to accurate reporting and analysis on issues pertaining to the Middle East, Gilead Ini believes the "moral equivalence of The New York Times’ coverage is disturbing."
"The way The New York Times framed the issue has the effect of justifying the poster vandalism, which is often accompanied by hateful invective against Israel. What we see from The New York Times is an effort to give the vandals an opportunity to rationalize their unethical behavior, as if they were misunderstood freedom fighters," Ini said.
He noted that the Times did give a voice to those who support the posters but feels the paper was "both-siding" the issue.
"By ‘both-siding’ this, The New York Times creates a false sense of moral balance between the two groups, granting legitimacy to the vandals’ actions, making it appear the vandalism is as valid as the action of those trying to highlight the suffering of the hostages," Ini said.
A New York Times spokesperson defended the paper’s coverage.
"This is a thoughtful and carefully-reported piece of journalism that accurately portrays a complex issue sparking real divisiveness in New York and across the country. Reporting out anything less than the reality of the situation would be journalistically irresponsible," a Times spokesperson told Fox News Digital.
The same Times article was discussed on Fox News’ "Outnumbered," where Washington Examiner journalist Kaylee Mcghee White called the paper’s framing a form of "victim blaming."
"Every time you take down one of those posters, you are justifying the attack on innocents," she said.
"In this country, if those posters had blackfaces on them, if they had other minorities or other belief systems on them, it would be completely different. We are in a space right now where the push against the Jewish communities is epic. It’s history," Harris Faulkner added.
"So, we have to decide now who we want to be as a country," Faulkner continued. "Do you want to be the one protecting the posters, that would be me, or do you want to be the one screaming ‘kill the Jews?’"
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