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LA Times Refuses to Substantiate or Retract False Charge That Israeli Snipers Target Children
Israeli soldiers operate in the Gaza Strip amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, in this handout picture released on March 5, 2024. Photo: Israel Defense Forces/Handout via REUTERS
As of this writing, The Los Angeles Times continues to refuse to either substantiate or retract a spurious charge that Israeli snipers in the Gaza Strip targeted several young Palestinian children, shooting them in the head.
In his Feb. 16 op-ed, “I’m an American doctor who went to Gaza. What I saw wasn’t war – it was annihilation,” Irfan Galaria made the very alarming accusation that IDF snipers targeted multiple small children in Khan Younis, fatally shooting them in the head. Galaria, an American doctor who volunteered in the European Hospital in Khan Yunis, alleged:
On one occasion, a handful of children, all about ages 5 to 8, were carried to the emergency room by their parents. All had single sniper shots to the head. These families were returning to their homes in Khan Yunis, about 2.5 miles away from the hospital, after Israeli tanks had withdrawn. But the snipers apparently stayed behind. None of these children survived.
Given that this is such an egregious, serious charge — which has not been independently confirmed — CAMERA turned to the Spokesmen Unit of the Israel Defense Forces for a response, a routine step which The Los Angeles Times did not take before publishing the op-ed, with its vitriolic charges of “annihilation.”
In response to Galaria’s charge that IDF snipers targeted small children, the IDF wrote to this CAMERA researcher:
In response to Hamas’ barbaric attacks, the IDF is operating to dismantle Hamas military and administrative capabilities.
In stark contrast to Hamas’ intentional attacks on Israeli men, women and children, the IDF follows international law and takes feasible precautions to mitigate civilian harm. The claims made have no factual basis and as such should be disregarded.
In light of the severity of Galaria’s accusation, and the IDF’s categorical denial, CAMERA urged The Los Angeles Times to provide details about the alleged shooting incidents so that the highly questionable claim can be fully fact-checked. CAMERA requested the date, time, and exact location of the alleged shootings, in addition to the names and ages of the alleged victims. CAMERA also inquired whether The Times could produce medical records or other evidence available to substantiate the account, or could otherwise point our researchers to any other credible sources to independently verify Galaria’s very serious accusation that Israeli snipers killed the children.
In response to CAMERA’s request for substantiation, The Los Angeles Times wrote:
Dr. Irfan Galaria’s Op-Ed is commentary based on his experience as a volunteer doctor in Gaza. Dr. Galaria’s account of what he saw and the description of medical cases that he and other doctors treated at the European Hospital over 10 days starting Jan. 29 are credible in our review. The single gunshot wounds he described have been corroborated by other doctors working with him. The presence of sniper fire, and the wounding and killing of Gazans by such fire, has been reported in multiple sources.
There is no doubt that Israeli snipers are active in Gaza, firing on Hamas members who murdered Israeli civilians on Oct. 7 or who pose a threat to Israeli soldiers operating in the Gaza Strip. About that there is no dispute.
But The Times is either unwilling or unable to point to any credible source for Dr. Galaria’s egregious charge that Israeli snipers fired on multiple small children, ages five to eight, who posed no threat. The fact that Dr. Galaria and unnamed others said they saw children brought to the hospital with gunshot wounds to the head does not prove that Israeli snipers fired on the children. The doctors do not claim to have seen the shooting incident take place or Israeli snipers firing on children.
In addition, Dr. Galaria has not cited any forensic evidence indicating that Israeli snipers are responsible for these reported killings — or that any children have ever been deliberately targeted. Since when does the mere presence of a body without any forensic evidence indicate the identity of the shooter?
Moreover, there are multiple accounts of Hamas fighters shooting Gaza civilians. Given that The Los Angeles Times cannot cite any credible witnesses of the actual shootings of the children or provide any evidence indicating Israeli responsibility for the purported killings, the media watchdog organization reiterates its request for a clarification indicating that The Times was not able to independently verify Dr. Galaria’s claim.
That the paper cannot or will not substantiate a toxic charge redolent of an age-old bigoted trope demonizing Jews as child killers is particularly troubling in this period of unprecedented antisemitism in the United States, an alarming period of violence that included the fatal assault of a Jewish man at an anti-Israel protest in a suburb of Los Angeles.
The financially floundering Los Angeles Times syndicated Galaria’s op-ed via Tribune Content Agency, endowing the egregious charges with an even broader audience. In addition to appearing in numerous newspapers, Galaria’s incendiary “annihilation” accusations earned him a platform on CNN, where correspondent Michael Holmes praised what he called the “incredibly powerful piece in The Los Angeles Times.”
Tamar Sternthal is the director of CAMERA’s Israel Office. A version of this article previously appeared on the CAMERA website.
The post LA Times Refuses to Substantiate or Retract False Charge That Israeli Snipers Target Children first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Germany: 5 Killed, Scores Wounded after Saudi Man Plows Car Into Christmas crowd
Magdeburg Christmas market, December 21, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Christian Mang
i24 News – A suspected terrorist plowed a vehicle into a crowd at a Christmas market in the German city of Magdeburg, west of the capital Berlin, killing at least five and injuring dozens more.
Local police confirmed that the suspect was a Saudi national born in 1974 and acting alone.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz expressed his concern about the incident, saying that “reports from Magdeburg suggest something bad. My thoughts are with the victims and their families.”
Police declined to give casualty numbers, confirming only a large-scale operation at the market, where people had gathered to celebrate in the days leading up to the Christmas holidays.
The post Germany: 5 Killed, Scores Wounded after Saudi Man Plows Car Into Christmas crowd first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Syria’s New Rulers Name HTS Commander as Defense Minister
A person waves a flag adopted by the new Syrian rulers, as people gather during a celebration called by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) near the Umayyad Mosque, after the ousting of Syria’s Bashar al-Assad, in Damascus, Syria, Photo: December 20, 2024. REUTERS/Ammar Awad/File Photo
Syria’s new rulers have appointed Murhaf Abu Qasra, a leading figure in the insurgency which toppled Bashar al-Assad, as defense minister in the interim government, an official source said on Saturday.
Abu Qasra, who is also known by the nom de guerre Abu Hassan 600, is a senior figure in the Islamist Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) group which led the campaign that ousted Assad this month. He led numerous military operations during Syria’s revolution, the source said.
Syria’s de facto leader Ahmed al-Sharaa discussed “the form of the military institution in the new Syria” during a meeting with armed factions on Saturday, state news agency SANA reported.
Abu Qasra during the meeting sat next to Sharaa, also known by the nom de guerre Abu Mohammed al-Golani, photos published by SANA showed.
Prime Minister Mohammed al-Bashir said this week that the defense ministry would be restructured using former rebel factions and officers who defected from Assad’s army.
Bashir, who formerly led an HTS-affiliated administration in the northwestern province of Idlib, has said he will lead a three-month transitional government. The new administration has not declared plans for what will happen after that.
Earlier on Saturday, the ruling General Command named Asaad Hassan al-Shibani as foreign minister, SANA said. A source in the new administration told Reuters that this step “comes in response to the aspirations of the Syrian people to establish international relations that bring peace and stability.”
Shibani, a 37-year-old graduate of Damascus University, previously led the political department of the rebels’ Idlib government, the General Command said.
Sharaa’s group was part of al Qaeda until he broke ties in 2016. It had been confined to Idlib for years until going on the offensive in late November, sweeping through the cities of western Syria and into Damascus as the army melted away.
Sharaa has met with a number of international envoys this week. He has said his primary focus is on reconstruction and achieving economic development and that he is not interested in engaging in any new conflicts.
Syrian rebels seized control of Damascus on Dec. 8, forcing Assad to flee after more than 13 years of civil war and ending his family’s decades-long rule.
Washington designated Sharaa a terrorist in 2013, saying al Qaeda in Iraq had tasked him with overthrowing Assad’s rule and establishing Islamic sharia law in Syria. US officials said on Friday that Washington would remove a $10 million bounty on his head.
The war has killed hundreds of thousands of people, caused one of the biggest refugee crises of modern times and left cities bombed to rubble and the economy hollowed out by global sanctions.
The post Syria’s New Rulers Name HTS Commander as Defense Minister first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Sweden Ends Funding for UNRWA, Pledges to Seek Other Aid Channels
View of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) building in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip. Photo: Abed Rahim Khatib / Flash90.
i24 News – Sweden will no longer fund the U.N. refugee agency for Palestinians (UNRWA) and will instead provide humanitarian assistance to Gaza via other channels, the Scandinavian country said on Friday.
The decision comes on the heels of multiple revelations regarding the agency’s employees’ involvement in the October 7, 2023, Hamas-led massacre in southern Israel that triggered the war in Gaza.
Sweden’s decision was in response to the Israeli ban, as it will make channeling aid via the agency more difficult, the country’s aid minister, Benjamin Dousa, said.
“Large parts of UNRWA’s operations in Gaza are either going to be severely weakened or completely impossible,” Dousa said. “For the government, the most important thing is that support gets through.”
The Palestinian embassy in Stockholm said in a statement: “We reject the idea of finding alternatives to UNRWA, which has a special mandate to provide services to Palestinian refugees.”
Israeli Deputy Foreign Minister Sharren Haskel thanked Dousa for a meeting they had this week and for Sweden’s decision to drop its support for UNRWA.
“There are worthy and viable alternatives for humanitarian aid, and I appreciate the willingness to listen and adopt a different approach,” she said.
The post Sweden Ends Funding for UNRWA, Pledges to Seek Other Aid Channels first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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