RSS
New York Times Can’t Help Shilling For Terrorists in Poorly-Researched Piece on Hostage Deal
A taxi passes by in front of The New York Times head office, Feb. 7, 2013. Photo: Reuters / Carlo Allegri / File.
Following the news that Israel had struck a deal with Hamas that would see at least 50 hostages released in exchange for 150 Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails, The New York Times asked, “Who Are the Palestinian Prisoners Who Could Be Released in a Hostage Deal?”
However, if any readers thought they might actually find out who these Palestinian prisoners are, they would be mistaken — because the piece is extremely light on facts and heavy on conjecture.
The bulk of the article comprises quotes and information provided by a Palestinian NGO called Addameer, which the Times describes as a “Palestinian prisoners’ rights group.”
Perhaps not wishing to undermine the credibility of Addameer, the Times doesn’t bother mentioning that the group was proscribed by Israel in 2021 as a terrorist group due to its links to the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP).
And when we say ties to the PFLP, we mean a longstanding relationship that involves the two organizations sharing “staff,” such as infamous terrorist Khalida Jarrar, who was deputy director of Addameer’s board of directors until 2017 and served time in jail for terrorism offenses, and Mahmoud Jaddah, also on the board of directors, who perpetrated numerous terror attacks in Jerusalem, Hebron, and Tel Aviv.
.@nytimes extensively quotes the Palestinian NGO Addameer throughout an article on the Palestinian prisoners who might be released as part of a deal for Israeli hostages.
But it “forgot” to mention that Addameer is affiliated with the PFLP terror org.https://t.co/wqKRRMwTMQ
— HonestReporting (@HonestReporting) November 22, 2023
Because it’s Addameer and because the Times clearly couldn’t be bothered to even attempt a semblance of balance, the piece takes a conspiratorial tone.
For example, readers are told there are “700 people missing from Gaza who are believed to be in Israeli prisons, but information on their whereabouts is murky,” according to Addameer spokeswoman Tala Nasir.
Sadly, we have to take Nasir’s word for it on both the number of “missing” Gazans and the lack of information on where they’re being held because the Times evidently has not checked the veracity of Addameer’s claim.
Indeed, the only bit of fact-checking the Times did, it seems, was to call IDF officials who said they had arrested 300 individuals connected to terror groups in Gaza, all of whom were taken to Israel for further questioning.
The paper doesn’t even attempt to explain the 400-person discrepancy between the two figures.
Furthermore, the Times is only too willing to swallow wholesale Addameer’s offensive assertion that Israel is currently holding 7,000 “Palestinian political prisoners,” including 2,000 being held in administrative detention, which Nasir claims are people “arrested for offenses that are related to political activity and free speech rather than crimes like drugs or violence.”
First, describing Palestinians who stab, shoot, and bomb Israeli civilians as “political” prisoners requires a complete redefinition of the word.
Second, it is a bald-faced lie that those held in administrative detention are there because of their online postings. Israel mainly uses administrative detention to hold individuals where there is clear-cut evidence they assisted, planned, or carried out terror attacks, or represent a clear and immediate terror threat.
Toward the end of the piece, the Times does reveal the identity of one of the Palestinian prisoners it promised to tell readers about in the headline:
The women in Israeli detention include Ahed Tamimi, 22, a high-profile figure in the West Bank who was sentenced to prison in 2018 for slapping an Israeli soldier. Israeli officials accused her of her posting hate speech online; her family said the post was not hers.”
Trust the paper to not mention the “hate speech” of which Tamimi was accused. If it had, readers would know that shortly after Hamas terrorists raped and murdered their way through southern Israel, Tamimi vowed to slaughter Jews, drink their blood and eat their skulls. This, she promised, would make Jews “say that what Hitler did to [them] was a joke.”
Lastly, Addameer’s documented links to the PFLP are not the only thing the Times failed to note.
A quick online search for the woman quoted extensively throughout the piece, Tala Nasir, reveals she also seems to have a bit of a soft spot for the PFLP, having posted messages in support of the terrorist group on her personal social media account.
But alas, it’s The New York Times, where shilling for terrorists is less of a shock than it should be.
The author is a contributor to HonestReporting, a Jerusalem-based media watchdog with a focus on antisemitism and anti-Israel bias — where a version of this article first appeared.
The post New York Times Can’t Help Shilling For Terrorists in Poorly-Researched Piece on Hostage Deal first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
RSS
After False Dawns, Gazans Hope Trump Will Force End to Two-Year-Old War
Palestinians walk past a residential building destroyed in previous Israeli strikes, after Hamas agreed to release hostages and accept some other terms in a US plan to end the war, in Nuseirat, central Gaza Strip October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa
Exhausted Palestinians in Gaza clung to hopes on Saturday that US President Donald Trump would keep up pressure on Israel to end a two-year-old war that has killed tens of thousands and displaced the entire population of more than two million.
Hamas’ declaration that it was ready to hand over hostages and accept some terms of Trump’s plan to end the conflict while calling for more talks on several key issues was greeted with relief in the enclave, where most homes are now in ruins.
“It’s happy news, it saves those who are still alive,” said 32-year-old Saoud Qarneyta, reacting to Hamas’ response and Trump’s intervention. “This is enough. Houses have been damaged, everything has been damaged, what is left? Nothing.”
GAZAN RESIDENT HOPES ‘WE WILL BE DONE WITH WARS’
Ismail Zayda, 40, a father of three, displaced from a suburb in northern Gaza City where Israel launched a full-scale ground operation last month, said: “We want President Trump to keep pushing for an end to the war, if this chance is lost, it means that Gaza City will be destroyed by Israel and we might not survive.
“Enough, two years of bombardment, death and starvation. Enough,” he told Reuters on a social media chat.
“God willing this will be the last war. We will hopefully be done with the wars,” said 59-year-old Ali Ahmad, speaking in one of the tented camps where most Palestinians now live.
“We urge all sides not to backtrack. Every day of delay costs lives in Gaza, it is not just time wasted, lives get wasted too,” said Tamer Al-Burai, a Gaza City businessman displaced with members of his family in central Gaza Strip.
After two previous ceasefires — one near the start of the war and another earlier this year — lasted only a few weeks, he said; “I am very optimistic this time, maybe Trump’s seeking to be remembered as a man of peace, will bring us real peace this time.”
RESIDENT WORRIES THAT NETANYAHU WILL ‘SABOTAGE’ DEAL
Some voiced hopes of returning to their homes, but the Israeli military issued a fresh warning to Gazans on Saturday to stay out of Gaza City, describing it as a “dangerous combat zone.”
Gazans have faced previous false dawns during the past two years, when Trump and others declared at several points during on-off negotiations between Hamas, Israel and Arab and US mediators that a deal was close, only for war to rage on.
“Will it happen? Can we trust Trump? Maybe we trust Trump, but will Netanyahu abide this time? He has always sabotaged everything and continued the war. I hope he ends it now,” said Aya, 31, who was displaced with her family to Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip.
She added: “Maybe there is a chance the war ends at October 7, two years after it began.”
RSS
Mass Rally in Rome on Fourth Day of Italy’s Pro-Palestinian Protests
A Pro-Palestinian demonstrator waves a Palestinian flag during a national protest for Gaza in Rome, Italy, October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Claudia Greco
Large crowds assembled in central Rome on Saturday for the fourth straight day of protests in Italy since Israel intercepted an international flotilla trying to deliver aid to Gaza, and detained its activists.
People holding banners and Palestinian flags, chanting “Free Palestine” and other slogans, filed past the Colosseum, taking part in a march that organizers hoped would attract at least 1 million people.
“I’m here with a lot of other friends because I think it is important for us all to mobilize individually,” Francesco Galtieri, a 65-year-old musician from Rome, said. “If we don’t all mobilize, then nothing will change.”
Since Israel started blocking the flotilla late on Wednesday, protests have sprung up across Europe and in other parts of the world, but in Italy they have been a daily occurrence, in multiple cities.
On Friday, unions called a general strike in support of the flotilla, with demonstrations across the country that attracted more than 2 million, according to organizers. The interior ministry estimated attendance at around 400,000.
Italy’s right-wing government has been critical of the protests, with Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni suggesting that people would skip work for Gaza just as an excuse for a longer weekend break.
On Saturday, Meloni blamed protesters for insulting graffiti that appeared on a statue of the late Pope John Paul II outside Rome’s main train station, where Pro-Palestinian groups have been holding a protest picket.
“They say they are taking to the streets for peace, but then they insult the memory of a man who was a true defender and builder of peace. A shameful act committed by people blinded by ideology,” she said in a statement.
Israel launched its Gaza offensive after Hamas terrorists staged a cross border attack on October 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people and taking 251 people hostage.
RSS
Hamas Says It Agrees to Release All Israeli Hostages Under Trump Gaza Plan
Smoke rises during an Israeli military operation in Gaza City, as seen from the central Gaza Strip, October 2, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas
Hamas said on Friday it had agreed to release all Israeli hostages, alive or dead, under the terms of US President Donald Trump’s Gaza proposal, and signaled readiness to immediately enter mediated negotiations to discuss the details.