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‘Recalcitrant,’ ‘Bellicose,’ ‘Ultranationalist’: New York Times Uses Harsh Labels for Israel — but Not Hamas
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
Another day, another snarky New York Times adjective hurled at Israel — but not at the terrorists Israel is fighting.
The Times‘ Jerusalem bureau chief, Patrick Kingsley, had a story up on the newspaper’s internet homepage saying Israel’s “governing coalition depends on support of ultranationalist leaders who are opposed to a permanent truce.” It also said, “[Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu’s grip on power relies on the support of two far-right parties opposed to any agreement that would leave Hamas in power in Gaza.” And it referred to Bezalel Smotrich, “a far-right firebrand whose party holds the balance of power in Mr. Netanyahu’s ruling coalition.”
What’s remarkable here is the double standard. Israel and Israelis get pejorative labels: “ultranationalist,” “far-right.” Yet the Times seems to have abandoned even its prior practice of using the “militant” euphemism to describe Hamas, which is a terrorist organization. Hamas gets “no labels” treatment from the Times article, aside from a passing description of its negotiating position as “flexible” in contrast to Israel’s “hardball.” This is a Times news article, not an opinion piece or even something carrying a “news analysis” label. Where are the Times editors who are supposed to be preventing and policing this sort of blatant tilt?
The Kingsley story also misled Times readers in that it was inaccurate to suggest, as his article did, that opposition to leaving Hamas in power in Gaza is confined to Israel’s “far right.” Such opposition is a widely held view in Israel, and, for that matter, in America, at least outside the far-left New York Times.
This was only the latest in a series of recent examples of the Times slapping nasty names on Israel while staying studiously neutral in describing Hamas, Hezbollah, or Iran.
An article in the July 3 edition of the Times that carried the bylines of Times bigfeet Peter Baker and David Sanger described Israel as “a recalcitrant ally whose continued war against Hamas was creating yet another threat to a second term.” Hamas and Iran, which are both mentioned in the Times article, got no insulting descriptive label, not even the apparently passé “militant.” Yet Israel is called “recalcitrant,” which my Webster’s Second translates to “making obstinate opposition; refusing to obey authority, custom, regulation, etc.; stubbornly defiant; noncompliant; refractory.” To a sophisticated ear, this may even echo antisemitic tropes; a Louis D. Brandeis Center Fact Sheet on the “elements of antisemitic discourse” mentions “intransigence,” which is close to stubborn defiance.
Another news article, on page one of the July 5 New York Times, said, “Israeli officials have voiced increasingly bellicose threats of a potential invasion of Lebanon to push Hezbollah away from the border.” Bellicose, my Webster’s Second says, means “warlike; disposed to quarrel or fight.” Hezbollah was described in the same article more politely as “the politically powerful Lebanese armed group.” That article, too, slapped a “far-right” label on Smotrich and a “right-wing” label on the Israeli government, while applying no label at all — no label whatsoever — to Hamas.
It’s outrageous — the Times labels Israel as “bellicose” and “right-wing,” while Hamas gets no label at all and Hezbollah, which is also a terrorist group, just gets “politically powerful,” as if it is some American advocacy group like the American Federation of Teachers or the National Rifle Association.
The Times has also slapped the “ferocious,” “aggressive,” and “rabidly partisan” labels recently on Israel and its allies in other articles that typically also failed to apply similarly tendentious descriptions to Hamas or Hezbollah — or Iran, which backs both Islamist terrorist groups.
For Israel and its friends, it’s pick the Times insult of the day. For Iran and its friends, the Times adopts “no labels.”
I’ve been in and around the news business for three and a half decades at this point, a lot of them as an editor, and, at nearly every paper I worked at, invariably reporters would try to slip loaded words like this into news articles to see what they could get away with. Good editors take those words out to protect the newspaper’s reputation for fairness and accuracy. Or at least they used to.
At a minimum, if such words are used, they need to be applied to all sides rather than just one side. Otherwise, the Times risks earning a hard-to-shake “rapidly partisan” label for its own newsroom.
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 ‘Recalcitrant,’ ‘Bellicose,’ ‘Ultranationalist’: New York Times Uses Harsh Labels for Israel — but Not Hamas first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Trump Hosts Qatari Prime Minister After Israeli Attack in Doha

Qatar’s Prime Minister and Minister for Foreign Affairs Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al-Thani attends an emergency meeting of the United Nations Security Council, following an Israeli attack on Hamas leaders in Doha, Qatar, at UN headquarters in New York City, US, Sept. 11, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Eduardo Munoz
US President Donald Trump held dinner with the Qatari prime minister in New York on Friday, days after US ally Israel attacked Hamas leaders in Doha.
Israel attempted to kill the political leaders of Hamas with an attack in Qatar on Tuesday, a strike that risked derailing US-backed efforts to broker a truce in Gaza and end the nearly two-year-old conflict. The attack was widely condemned in the Middle East and beyond as an act that could escalate tensions in a region already on edge.
Trump expressed annoyance about the strike in a phone call with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and sought to assure the Qataris that such attacks would not happen again.
Trump and Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman al-Thani were joined by a top Trump adviser, US special envoy Steve Witkoff.
“Great dinner with POTUS. Just ended,” Qatar’s deputy chief of mission, Hamah Al-Muftah, said on X.
The White House confirmed the dinner had taken place but offered no details.
The session followed an hour-long meeting that al-Thani had at the White House on Friday with Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
A source briefed on the meeting said they discussed Qatar’s future as a mediator in the region and defense cooperation in the wake of the Israeli strikes against Hamas in Doha.
Trump said he was unhappy with Israel’s strike, which he described as a unilateral action that did not advance US or Israeli interests.
Washington counts Qatar as a strong Gulf ally. Qatar has been a main mediator in long-running negotiations for a ceasefire between Israel and Palestinian militant group Hamas in Gaza, for the release of Israeli hostages held in Gaza and for a post-conflict plan for the territory.
Al-Thani blamed Israel on Tuesday for trying to sabotage chances for peace but said Qatar would not be deterred from its role as mediator.
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Trump Urges NATO Countries to Halt Russian Oil Purchases

US President Donald Trump gestures during a cabinet meeting at the White House in Washington, DC, US, Aug. 26, 2025. Photo: Jonathan Ernst via Reuters Connect
i24 News – US President Donald Trump issued a letter to NATO nations on Saturday, impressing upon them to stop purchasing Russian oil and impose major sanctions on the regime of Vladimir Putin to end its war in Ukraine.
“I am ready to do major Sanctions on Russia when all NATO Nations have agreed, and started, to do the same thing, and when all NATO Nations STOP BUYING OIL FROM RUSSIA. As you know, NATO’S commitment to WIN has been far less than 100%, and the purchase of Russian Oil, by some, has been shocking! It greatly weakens your negotiating position, and bargaining power, over Russia,” the message read.
“Anyway, I am ready to ‘go’ when you are. Just say when? I believe that this, plus NATO, as a group, placing 50% to 100% TARIFFS ON CHINA, to be fully withdrawn after the WAR with Russia and Ukraine is ended, will also be of great help in ENDING this deadly, but RIDICULOUS, WAR. China has a strong control, and even grip, over Russia, and these powerful Tariffs will break that grip.”
Trump’s post comes after the recent flight of multiple Russian drones into Poland, widely perceived an escalatory move by Russia as it was entering the airspace of a NATO ally. Poland intercepted the drones, yet Trump played down the severity of the incident and Russia’s motives by saying it “could have been a mistake.”
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Netanyahu Says Getting Rid of Hamas Chiefs in Qatar Would Remove Main Obstacle to Gaza Deal

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu attends the US Independence Day reception, known as the annual “Fourth of July” celebration, hosted by Newsmax, in Jerusalem, Aug. 13, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Ronen Zvulun/Pool
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Saturday that getting rid of Hamas chiefs living in Qatar would remove the main obstacle to releasing all hostages and ending the war in Gaza.
Israel on Tuesday targeted the Hamas leadership in Doha.