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Soros, Omidyar, Ford Fund New York Times Reporter Tweeting About Israel’s Gaza ‘Massacre’
The New York Times newspaper. Photo: Wikimedia Commons.
For coverage of the war in Gaza, the New York Times has turned to a reporter whose opinionated social media posts accuse Israel of a “massacre” and who is being funded with money from charities with anti-Israel track records.
“Gaza’s Medical Workers Face Detention and Death” was the headline over a recent New York Times news article. It’s the latest example of gullible New York Times coverage of Gaza health care challenges, a topic that has been a recurring problem for the newspaper. In October 2023, the Times published an “editors’ note” acknowledging that editors “should have taken more care” with coverage of an explosion near Al Ahli hospital. In February, I highlighted issues with the Times‘ coverage of Nasser hospital.
The new Times article includes this context paragraph: “Since the Hamas-led attack on Israel on Oct. 7, many hospitals in Gaza have come under attack from the Israeli military, which has accused Hamas fighters of using them as bases. Hamas and Palestinian doctors have repeatedly denied that claim.”
Why would the Times take a he-said, she-said approach to this one, repeating those Hamas and Palestinian denials without informing readers that they are false?
Even the Times itself reported back in February, about Al-Shifa hospital, “Evidence examined by the New York Times suggests Hamas used the hospital for cover, stored weapons inside it, and maintained a hardened tunnel beneath the complex that was supplied with water, power, and air-conditioning.” A Jan. 2, 2024 Times article was headlined, “Hamas Used Gaza Hospital as a Command Center, US Intelligence Says.” That January article reported, “The complex was used by both Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad to command forces fighting against Israel, according to the intelligence.”
Instead of asking the Gaza doctors about the terrorists and kidnappers using the hospitals as cover, the Times conveyed the doctors’ complaints about Israel. It also conveyed the complaints of advocacy groups such as Amnesty International and Medical Aid for Palestinians whose anti-Israel bias has been extensively documented by NGO Monitor.
How’d this latest piece wind up in the newspaper? The byline, Anjana Sankar, isn’t a familiar name to longtime readers of Times coverage of Israel, Gaza, or foreign affairs. Her posts on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, are unusually opinionated for a Times reporter. A July 9 post featured photos of blood-spattered children with Sankar’s comment, “Unimaginable horror again in #Gaza as Israel strikes a school building sheltering displaced people. Israeli army says the incident is under review. Hamas calls for worldwide protests against the massacre. When will this end?????” A July 21 post said, “Biden has decided not to seek re-election. He will be remembered as one of the great American presidents, having beaten Donald Trump and paved the way for the first Black woman and first South Asian descendant to become a major party’s presidential nominee.”
Anjana Sankar. Photo: Screenshot
It turns out that Sankar was at the Times as part of a fellowship from the International Women’s Media Foundation (IWMF). That organization receives $250,000 a year from George and Alexander Soros’s Open Society Foundation, $100,000 a year from Pierre Omidyar’s Democracy Fund, and $200,000 a year from the Ford Foundation, according to the most recently available IWMF tax return. Open Society and Ford also back the Quincy Institute, Soros has backed anti-Zionist Peter Beinart’s publication Jewish Currents and efforts to cut off arms to Israel, and Omidyar’s The Intercept has been criticizing the New York Times for being too pro-Israel in its coverage of the Gaza war.
I asked the IWMF if there was designated funding for Sankar’s New York Times fellowship and if so, where it was from. All that the organization’s communications director Charlotte Fox would say is that the fellowship “is funded by a variety of sources, including individuals, foundations, media companies, and other corporations.”
I asked the New York Times about the reporter’s social media posts and about whether the fellowship allows the International Women’s Media Foundation to sell donors with an agenda access to the Times news columns. A Times spokeswoman replied, “Ms. Sankar’s two-month fellowship concluded last weekend.” Shortly thereafter, Sanker’s bio on X/Twitter changed; the words “currently with the New York Times” no longer appear.
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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Israel to Send Delegation to Qatar for Gaza Ceasefire Talks
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks during a news conference in Jerusalem, Sept. 2, 2024. Photo: Ohad Zwigenberg/Pool via REUTERS
Israel has decided to send a delegation to Qatar for talks on a possible Gaza hostage and ceasefire deal, an Israeli official said, reviving hopes of a breakthrough in negotiations to end the almost 21-month war.
Palestinian group Hamas said on Friday it had responded to a US-backed Gaza ceasefire proposal in a “positive spirit,” a few days after US President Donald Trump said Israel had agreed “to the necessary conditions to finalize” a 60-day truce.
The Israeli negotiation delegation will fly to Qatar on Sunday, the Israeli official, who declined to be named due to the sensitivity of the matter, told Reuters.
But in a sign of the potential challenges still facing the two sides, a Palestinian official from a militant group allied with Hamas said concerns remained over humanitarian aid, passage through the Rafah crossing in southern Israel to Egypt and clarity over a timetable for Israeli troop withdrawals.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is due to meet Trump in Washington on Monday, has yet to comment on Trump’s announcement, and in their public statements Hamas and Israel remain far apart.
Netanyahu has repeatedly said Hamas must be disarmed, a position the terrorist group, which is thought to be holding 20 living hostages, has so far refused to discuss.
Israeli media said on Friday that Israel had received and was reviewing Hamas’ response to the ceasefire proposal.
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Tucker Carlson Says to Air Interview with President of Iran
Tucker Carlson speaks on July 18, 2024 during the final day of the Republican National Convention at the Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Photo: Jasper Colt-USA TODAY via Reuters Connect
US conservative talk show host Tucker Carlson said in an online post on Saturday that he had conducted an interview with Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, which would air in the next day or two.
Carlson said the interview was conducted remotely through a translator, and would be published as soon as it was edited, which “should be in a day or two.”
Carlson said he had stuck to simple questions in the interview, such as, “What is your goal? Do you seek war with the United States? Do you seek war with Israel?”
“There are all kinds of questions that I didn’t ask the president of Iran, particularly questions to which I knew I could get an not get an honest answer, such as, ‘was your nuclear program totally disabled by the bombing campaign by the US government a week and a half ago?’” he said.
Carlson also said he had made a third request in the past several months to interview Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who will be visiting Washington next week for talks with US President Donald Trump.
Trump said on Friday he would discuss Iran with Netanyahu at the White House on Monday.
Trump said he believed Tehran’s nuclear program had been set back permanently by recent US strikes that followed Israel’s attacks on the country last month, although Iran could restart it at a different location.
Trump also said Iran had not agreed to inspections of its nuclear program or to give up enriching uranium. He said he would not allow Tehran to resume its nuclear program, adding that Iran did want to meet with him.
Pezeshkian said last month Iran does not intend to develop nuclear weapons but will pursue its right to nuclear energy and research.
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Hostage Families Reject Partial Gaza Seal, Demand Release of All Hostages
Demonstrators hold signs and pictures of hostages, as relatives and supporters of Israeli hostages kidnapped during the Oct. 7, 2023 attack by Hamas protest demanding the release of all hostages in Tel Aviv, Israel, Feb. 13, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Itai Ron
i24 News – As Israeli leaders weigh the contours of a possible partial ceasefire deal with Hamas, the families of the 50 hostages still held in Gaza issued an impassioned public statement this weekend, condemning any agreement that would return only some of the abductees.
In a powerful message released Saturday, the Families Forum for the Return of Hostages denounced what they call the “beating system” and “cruel selection process,” which, they say, has left families trapped in unbearable uncertainty for 638 days—not knowing whether to hope for reunion or prepare for mourning.
The group warned that a phased or selective deal—rumored to be under discussion—would deepen their suffering and perpetuate injustice. Among the 50 hostages, 22 are believed to be alive, and 28 are presumed dead.
“Every family deserves answers and closure,” the Forum said. “Whether it is a return to embrace or a grave to mourn over—each is sacred.”
They accused the Israeli government of allowing political considerations to prevent a full agreement that could have brought all hostages—living and fallen—home long ago. “It is forbidden to conform to the dictates of Schindler-style lists,” the statement read, invoking a painful historical parallel.
“All of the abductees could have returned for rehabilitation or burial months ago, had the government chosen to act with courage.”
The call for a comprehensive deal comes just as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu prepares for high-stakes talks in Washington and as indirect negotiations between Israel and Hamas are expected to resume in Doha within the next 24 hours, according to regional media reports.
Hamas, for its part, issued a statement Friday confirming its readiness to begin immediate negotiations on the implementation of a ceasefire and hostage release framework.
The Forum emphasized that every day in captivity poses a mortal risk to the living hostages, and for the deceased, a danger of being lost forever. “The horror of selection does not spare any of us,” the statement said. “Enough with the separation and categories that deepen the pain of the families.”
In a planned public address near Begin Gate in Tel Aviv, families are gathering Saturday evening to demand that the Israeli government accept a full-release deal—what they describe as the only “moral and Zionist” path forward.
“We will return. We will avenge,” the Forum concluded. “This is the time to complete the mission.”
As of now, the Israeli government has not formally responded to Hamas’s latest statement.
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