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New York Times Adds ‘Editor’s Note’ to Article That Whitewashed Violent Anti-Israel Protest
An anti-Israel protester burns an Israeli flag in front of the White House in Washington, DC, USA, on June 8, 2024. Photo: Aashish Kiphayet/NurPhoto via Reuters Connect
In Washington, DC this weekend, an anti-Israel crowd attacked a park ranger by throwing bottles at him as he tried to protect a statue that they were vandalizing. Other masked protesters chanted, “Hezbollah, Hezbollah, kill another Zionist now.”
That’s what happened according to videos shared on social media posts by members of the US Congress, both Democrat and Republican. Yet the New York Times whitewashed the protest, publishing an article that made no mention of the assault on the park ranger. The Times only added in a mention of the assault to its story two days after it was published — and after being denounced in other publications.
The byline over the Times article is that of Minho Kim. His LinkedIn profile describes him as a “news assistant” at the Times who started work there in January and who hopes “to continue writing stories on the climate crisis.” The profile says he was a 2022 graduate of Northwestern University who was born and raised in South Korea and “calls himself a voluntary third-culture adult.”
The Times article originally mentioned violence not by the protesters but by the police, who, according to the article, “used pepper spray against a protester at least once.” The article didn’t give any reason why the police did that.
The Times article consistently described the mob as a group of “pro-Palestinian protesters,” even though it would be terrible for the Palestinians to leave Hamas in power in Gaza — and even though many of the protesters appeared to be motivated more by anti-Israel animus than by sympathy for the Palestinians.
The Times article mentioned “the more than 36,000 Palestinians who had been killed during the war” without noting those numbers came from the Hamas-controlled Gaza health ministry and press office. The article also failed to note that number included many people who even the Gazan authorities said they hadn’t fully identified, or that Israel said it had killed upwards of 12,000 enemy fighters, or that at least some of the Palestinian deaths were the result of misfired rockets aimed at Israel.
Other basic facts in the Times article were incorrect, outdated, or lacked context. The Times context on US aid to Israel, for example, mentioned “$38 billion over ten years,” a sum that didn’t include an additional $15 billion in aid approved in April.
The Times article reported, “Many of the protesters on Saturday chanted slogans that some groups have said incite violence against Jews … But according to one protester, such slogans were not a call for violence against Jewish people, but for a broader resistance against the status quo.”
The article concluded: “‘We don’t have anything against Jews,’ said Adam Kattom, a founding member of Peoria for Palestine, who had traveled 12 hours from Peoria, Ill., to join the demonstration.” It’s hard to imagine the Times taking such a claim at face value in the context of other political protests, or allowing such a self-serving claim to be the final word of an article. You wonder about the lack of follow-up: if these protesters sincerely “don’t have anything against Jews,” why are they traveling hours to call for America to cut off the arms supplies that the Jewish state is using to defend itself against the Iran-backed terrorists who want to wipe Israel off the map and kill all the Jews?
Writing in the Free Press, Peter Savodnik described the protest as an “orgy of hatred” and wrote, “The New York Times, like CNN and The Washington Post and most every major outlet, made a big point of how the demonstrators really, really just want a cease-fire. There was no mention of Jews or antisemitism.” It’s not actually accurate that the Times didn’t mention Jews, but the paper certainly was dismissive of the antisemitism concerns.
In Commentary, John Podhoretz wrote that the event “can only be described as a Hamas rally — complete with the desecrations of American statuary.”
I emailed Kim to ask about the Times story and didn’t immediately get a reply.
The Times article itself now is labeled “Published June 8, 2024” and “Updated June 10, 2024” and carries an “editor’s note.” It reads “Editor’s note: This article was updated on June 10 with a statement from the National Park Service.”
Sure enough, the article now includes this passage: “Later in the day, some protesters threw empty water bottles at an unarmed park ranger who stood by another vandalized statue in the square, the National Park Service said in a statement on Monday. ‘Saturday’s permitted demonstration resulted in an assault of a park ranger, injuries to two US Park Police officers, and significant damage to the park resources,’ said Cynthia Hernandez, a spokeswoman for the agency.”
It’s unusual for the Times to handle an article this way, by going into it and adding new information two days after it was originally published. What’s not unusual, alas, but rather is all too typical, is for the Times falsely to depict anti-Israel activists in America as being more “peaceful,” and less hostile, than they really are.
Ira Stoll was managing editor of The Forward and North American editor of The Jerusalem Post. His media critique, a regular Algemeiner feature, can be found here.
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Dozens of Terrorists Eliminated in Central Gaza, Weapons Seized from UN School in Raid
Some rises after an Israeli strike as Israeli forces launch a ground and air operation in the eastern part of Rafah, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, in Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip, May 7, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Hatem Khaled
i24 News – Israel Defense Forces continue to operate in the Shejaiya area at the same time as fighting in the Rafah area and in the center of the Gaza Strip, the army said.
In the Shejaiya area, forces of the 98th Division attacked dozens of terrorist sites with the help of airstrikes from the Israel Air Force.
Over the weekend, Israeli soldiers raided a UN school in Shejaiya, where terrorists hid and stored weapons, grenades and valuable intelligence documents
This is yet another example of how Gazan terrorists use civilian structures to carry out attacks against Israeli forces pic.twitter.com/9oA9KLJehC
— i24NEWS English (@i24NEWS_EN) June 30, 2024
A UN school was raided where terrorists hid and stored weapons, grenades, and sensitive documents. In addition, a Hamas command center was discovered in a clinic.
Since Saturday, division forces located weapons, raided and captured terrorist compounds, and eliminated a number of terrorists.
IDF strikes Hamas target in Gaza
Israeli forces continue to operate in the Shejaiya area while continuing to push in Rafah and in central Gaza
The IDF attacked and destroyed a mortar launch position located within a tunnel shaft in Rafah pic.twitter.com/JqTACvuMys
— i24NEWS English (@i24NEWS_EN) June 30, 2024
The 162nd Division meanwhile continues in the Rafah area, eliminating a number of terrorists in various encounters and destroying tunnel shafts in the area.
The 99th Division 99 the center of the Gaza Strip carried out raids and destroyed terrorist infrastructure in the area.
Also on Saturday, an airstrikes destroyed a mortar launch position located inside a tunnel shaft in Rafah.
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Israeli Government Approves Danny Danon as UN Ambassador
Israeli Ambassador to the United Nations Danny Danon at a briefing on Iranian aggression on May 6, 2020. Photo: Screenshot.
i24 News – The Israeli government unanimously agreed on Sunday to appoint Likud lawmaker Danny Danon as Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations, succeeding the current ambassador, Gilad Erdan.
Danon, who previously held this position, will soon serve a second term. Danon’s appointment to this important position comes at a particularly crucial time, as he is expected to represent Israel on the international stage as the country faces challenges at home and abroad.
“I am proud to return to serve the State of Israel as Israel’s Ambassador to the United Nations during this critical period,” he said on Twitter.
“As Israel faces battles on numerous fronts, each and every one of us must do his utmost within his skills and experiences,” he said in an earlier statement. “This is how I have behaved in the past, and this is how I will continue to behave in the future.”
I am proud to return to serve the State of Israel as Israel’s Ambassador to the United Nations during this critical period.
With Israel confronting challenges on multiple fronts, it is imperative for each of us to contribute to the best of our abilities and experiences. This…
— Danny Danon דני דנון (@dannydanon) June 30, 2024
“In the face of the diplomatic terrorism that is rearing its head these days, I am forced to present the truth and hold my head high for the people of Israel and our common future here,” he concluded.
It is expected that Avihai Boaron, a former member of the Knesset, Israel’s parliament, will enter in place of Danon.
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‘Los Angeles Is Becoming Unsafe for Its Jewish Residents” Says Israeli Minister
Governor Newsom speaking at the Museum of Tolerance in Los Angeles. Photo Credit: Office of Governor Gavin Newsom.
i24 News – Amichai Shikli, Israel’s Minister of Diaspora and Antisemitism, has urgently called upon California’s governor Gavin Newsom and Los Angeles’s mayor Karen Bass to address a concerning escalation of antisemitic incidents in the city.
In a strongly worded letter sent following a surge in antisemitic activities since October 7, 2023, Shikli expressed deep apprehension about the safety of Jewish residents in Los Angeles.
“Los Angeles is becoming more and more unsafe for its Jewish residents,” Shikli stated, emphasizing the urgent need for proactive measures to combat the rising tide of antisemitism.
He highlighted recent violent demonstrations on campuses that endangered Jewish students, alongside two serious incidents that he believes were mishandled by authorities.
One incident he pointed to was the tragic murder of Paul Kessler in November 2023 during a pro-Israel demonstration. Shikli criticized the court’s failure to classify the attack as a hate crime, stating, “It is shocking to see that the court did not recognize this as a hate crime. Paul was attacked for the sole reason that he was a Jew and a Zionist.”
Additionally, Shikli referenced an incident earlier in the week where an anti-Israel group disrupted an event at Adat Torah synagogue, resulting in an attack on Jewish attendees. Despite prior knowledge of the demonstration, law enforcement allegedly failed to take preventive actions to ensure the safety of Jewish residents.
Concerned about the city’s largest Jewish community in North America, Shikli urged immediate steps to enhance security around Jewish institutions and to ensure law enforcement is adequately trained to handle antisemitic crimes effectively. “At a time when antisemitism is at an all-time high, I urge you to implement measures to combat it,” he asserted.
The minister concluded his letter by proposing collaboration with local authorities and inviting the Los Angeles Police Department to participate in an international training program aimed at equipping security forces worldwide to combat antisemitism effectively.
The post ‘Los Angeles Is Becoming Unsafe for Its Jewish Residents” Says Israeli Minister first appeared on Algemeiner.com.