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New York Times Undercounts Israeli Hostages, Smears IDF as ‘Ferocious’
Israelis protest against the government and to show support for the hostages who were kidnapped during the deadly Oct. 7, 2023 attack, amid the ongoing conflict in Gaza between Israel and Hamas, in Tel Aviv, Israel, Nov. 30, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Ronen Zvulun
Sometimes an entire story about New York Times bias can come packed into two short sentences of a context paragraph.
A recent article in the Times‘ arts section reported on the Jewish Museum in New York acquiring an artwork by Ruth Patir that was originally intended for the Venice Biennale. As part of the story, the Times offered up this encapsulation of events in Israel and Gaza: “Hamas-led militants killed 1,200 and abducted 240 people. The Israeli military responded with a ferocious military campaign in which more than 41,000 people have been killed, according to local health authorities, including many women and children.”
Can you spot the instances of bias?
The Israeli campaign got labeled as “ferocious,” while the Hamas terrorist attack of last Oct. 7 got no pejorative adjective from the Times. “Ferocious” was just the latest loaded modifier the Times has slapped on Israel’s careful military campaign, which the newspaper has, in its news columns, also called “brutal” and “aggressive.”
The Times has further made a point of mentioning that the Gazans killed include “many women and children.” Yet those killed and abducted by Hamas on Oct. 7 also included many women and children. Why mention the presence of women and children among the Gazans but not among the Israelis? It’s a double standard.
While I’m willing to acknowledge that there surely are innocent children who have been killed in Gaza, it’s also worth mentioning that Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad, both ferocious terrorist groups, have themselves deliberately used children as combatants and as human shields. And that some of the innocent children may be victims of misfires of Hamas or Palestinian Islamic Jihad rockets aimed at Israel.
In addition, the “abducted 240 people” sum inaccurately understated the number. The Times elsewhere has reported that “about 250 hostages were captured in the Hamas-led attack on Israel on Oct, 7, 2023.” The 250 number appeared in another article in the same print edition of the Times as the 240 number, leaving readers at a loss as to which figure to believe. The article about the art exhibit even included a hyperlink to a Times article reporting, “In all, about 250 people were abducted on Oct. 7, according to Israeli officials.” A Washington Post article identified 251 individually by name.
I wrote to the author of the Times article, asking why mention the “women and children” in one case but not the other. I also asked, “Is 240 just a typo that needs correcting from hitting the 4 key instead of the 5, or is the arts section and the woke editors there keeping its own lower count of kidnapped-by-Hamas people than the rest of the Times is?”
No correction has appeared, and I have received no response from the Times to my inquiry. Short of publishing a correction and an editor’s note apologizing for the slanted treatment, what are they going to say? The article speaks for itself, the latest example in a long series of what the former national director of the Anti-Defamation League, Abraham Foxman, has called the Times’ “constant” anti-Israel bias.
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.
The post New York Times Undercounts Israeli Hostages, Smears IDF as ‘Ferocious’ first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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‘With or Without Russia’s Help’: Iran Pledges to Block South Caucasus Route Opened Up By Peace Deal
U.S. President Donald Trump speaks during a cabinet meeting at the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., July 8, 2025. Photo: Kevin Lamarque via Reuters Connect.
i24 News – Iran will block the establishment of a US-backed transit corridor in the South Caucasus region with or without Moscow’s help, a senior adviser to Iran’s supreme leader was quoted as saying on Saturday by the Iran International website, one day after the historic peace agreement between Azerbaijan and Armenia.
“Mr. Trump thinks the Caucasus is a piece of real estate he can lease for 99 years,” Ali Akbar Velayati said of the so-called Zangezur corridor, the establishment of which is stipulated in the peace deal unveiled on Friday by US President Donald Trump. The White House said the transit route would facilitate greater exports of energy and other resources.
“This passage will not become a gateway for Trump’s mercenaries — it will become their graveyard,” the Khamenei advisor added.
Baku and Yerevan have been at loggerheads since the late 1980s when Nagorno-Karabakh, a mountainous Azerbaijani region mostly populated by ethnic Armenians, broke away from Azerbaijan with support from Armenia. Azerbaijan took back full control of the region in 2023, prompting or forcing almost all of the territory’s 100,000 ethnic Armenians to flee to Armenia.
Yet that painful history was put to the side on Friday at the White House, as Trump oversaw a signing ceremony, flanked by Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan.
The peace deal with Azerbaijan—a pro-Western ally of Israel—is expected to pull Armenia out of the Russian and Iranian sphere of influence and could transform the South Caucasus, an energy-producing region neighboring Russia, Europe, Turkey and Iran.
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UK Police Arrest 150 at Protest for Banned Palestine Action Group
People holding signs sit during a rally organised by Defend Our Juries, challenging the British government’s proscription of “Palestine Action” under anti-terrorism laws, in Parliament Square, in London, Britain, August 9, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Jaimi Joy
London’s Metropolitan Police said on Saturday it had arrested 150 people at a protest against Britain’s decision to ban the group Palestine Action, adding it was making further arrests.
Officers made arrests after crowds, waving placards expressing support for the group, gathered in Parliament Square, the force said on X.
Protesters, some wearing black and white Palestinian scarves, chanted “shame on you” and “hands off Gaza,” and held signs such as “I oppose genocide. I support Palestine Action,” video taken by Reuters at the scene showed.
In July, British lawmakers banned Palestine Action under anti-terrorism legislation after some of its members broke into a Royal Air Force base and damaged planes in protest against Britain’s support for Israel.
The ban makes it a crime to be a member of the group, carrying a maximum sentence of 14 years in prison.
The co-founder of Palestine Action, Huda Ammori, last week won a bid to bring a legal challenge against the ban.
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‘No Leniency’: Iran Announces Arrest of 20 ‘Zionist Agents’
Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi addresses a special session of the Human Rights Council at the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland, June 20, 2025. REUTERS/Denis Balibouse
i24 News – Iranian authorities have in recent months arrested 20 people charged with being “Israeli Mossad operatives,” the judiciary said, adding that the Islamic regime will mete out the harshest punishments.
“The judiciary will show no leniency toward spies and agents of the Zionist regime, and with firm rulings, will make an example of them all,” spokesperson Asghar Jahangiri told Iranian media. However, it is understood that an unspecified number of detainees were released, apparently after the charges against them could not be substantiated.
The Islamic Republic was left reeling by a devastating 12-day war with Israel earlier in the summer that left a significant proportion of its military arsenal in ruins and dealt a serious setback to its uranium enrichment program. The fallout included an uptick in executions of Iranians convicted of spying for Israel, with at least eight death sentences carried out in recent months. Hit with international sanctions, the country is in dire economic straights, with frequent energy outages and skyrocketing unemployment.
In recent weeks Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi affirmed that Tehran cannot give up on its nuclear enrichment program even as it was severely damaged during the war.
“It is stopped because, yes, damages are serious and severe. But obviously we cannot give up of enrichment because it is an achievement of our own scientists. And now, more than that, it is a question of national pride,” the official told Fox News.