The charge is frequently made that the IDF “deliberately kills journalists.” Yet these “journalists” are jihad terrorists: “New York Times Conceals Hamas Role of ‘Journalist’ It Accuses Israel of Killing,” by Ira Stoll, Algemeiner, March 28, 2025:
The Times article features interviews with Gazans about their suffering. But it includes no interviews or questions about whether the Gazans blame Hamas for not releasing the Israeli and foreign hostages or for not surrendering. If the Times has full unfettered access to Gazans for newsgathering purposes, why not ask them a full and complete portfolio of questions, rather than just, essentially, “please describe your suffering in a way that makes you look sympathetic so Israel can be blamed?” The answer is surely that, as the Times Jerusalem bureau chief, Patrick Kingsley, once acknowledged to readers, “Hamas restricts journalists in Gaza.”
The Western journalists do not dare to ask any questions that might anger or embarrass Hamas. Unlike the IDF, Hamas is prepared to harm any journalist pursuing a line of questioning of which it disapproves.
The Times double standard is also on display in the article. It reports, “Gaza’s health ministry said on Monday that 61 people were killed in Israeli bombardments over the past day, a day after it said the death toll in the enclave had surpassed 50,000 since the war began almost 18 months ago. The ministry’s figures do not distinguish between civilians and combatants.” Then it reports, “The Israeli military said in a statement on Sunday that its troops had killed several fighters in Tal al-Sultan and raided a site it said was used as a Hamas command and control center. It did not provide evidence of its claims, which could not be independently verified.”
Only the Israelis, not the Gazans, get the “did not provide evidence of its claims, which could not be independently verified” treatment. And the health ministry is referred to simply as the health ministry, not the health ministry controlled by the Hamas terrorist organization.
The New York Times so often calls into question whatever the IDF puts out, without doing the same for claims put out by Hamas. How does the New York Times know that Hamas’ claim that “61 people were killed in an Israeli bombardment” is true when it has done nothing to verify that claim? And yet when the IDF said of the same attack that “its troops had killed several fighters” — a far cry from the 61 claimed by Hamas — the New York Times says that the Israelis “did not provide evidence of its claims, which could not be independently verified.” Ira Stoll rightly asks why that statement was not included in the report on Hamas’ claim. Does Hamas have a record of telling the truth, so we need not question its version of events, while the IDF has a record of lies, so its statements must be taken with a grain of salt? Hasn’t history shown quite the opposite — that the IDF tells the truth, and Hamas lies?
But let’s return to the “journalist” Hossam Shabat, who worked for Al Jazeera, owned by the Hamas-financing government of Qatar, which also allows Hamas leaders to live comfortably in Doha. That alone should make him a doubtful source of information on Hamas. The Israelis say he may have been a “journalist,” but he was also, and mainly, a terrorist and a sniper. An IDF soldier, Yaakov Harshkovitz, posted on X about Shabat the following: “This terrorist, Hossam Shabat, from Hamas Beit Hanoun Battalion, who was also employed as a Journalist for Al-Jazeera, tried to kill me with a sniper rifle, at least twice. He was one of the most dangerous terrorists in our area, he was a professional sniper, he took part in terror missions against Israel.”
Why didn’t the New York Times, as part of its story on the death of Shabat, whom its reporters insisted on describing only as a journalist, not include in its report the identification of Shabat by the IDF as a most dangerous terrorist, a trained sniper, and a member of the Beit Hanoun Battalion of Hamas? And the same question must be addressed to the Committee to Protect Journalists: why did you not take the time to find out from the IDF about Hossam Shabat’s role as a sniper for Hamas, before putting out your statement? After all, on October 23, 2024, the IDF revealed that captured Hamas documents listed the names of six Al Jazeera journalists in Gaza, four of whom were fighters with Hamas, and two with Palestinian Islamic Jihad. The six were Talal Mahmoud, Anas Al-Sharif, Hossam Shabat, Alaa Salameh, Ashraf Al-Saraj and Ismail Abu Omar, with personnel numbers, ranks, dates of birth and recruitment, and injuries. On August 1, 2024, the IDF had brought similar charges against another Al-Jazeera reporter, Ismail al-Ghoul, who had been killed the day prior in an Israeli strike. There is a long record of Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad members camouflaged as “journalists” in Gaza.
Due diligence, New York Times, and you too, Committee to Protect Journalists, due diligence. Your anti-Israel animus is showing, and it’s not pretty.
Tony Rice says
I gave up reading N Y Times when I realised how anti Israel they are.
James Lincoln says
I’m not sure who actually reads the New York Slimes at this point.
Likely, the dwindling number of JFK type liberals who feel that they are part of the intelligentsia – and way smarter than “regular” people.
࿗Infidel࿘ says
Yeah. WaPo I get – they’re aimed at the Betway types & lobbyists, although I daresay they’re getting stiff competition from Politico. Although now, w/ those editorial changes, who knows?
I just don’t get who reads the NYT
Taffy says
I echo the sentiment of the previous commenters. The NYT is now the antithesis of good journalism. The editorials are on every page, masquerading as news. I would not use that rag to line a birdcage.
carpediadem says
The CtPJ is no but another Hamas front populated by compromised media/corporate types.
few organisations are actually what they pretend to be.
have they received USAID funding?