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How a Small-Town US Magazine Published Oct. 7 Atrocity Denial
An aerial view shows the bodies of victims of an attack following a mass infiltration by Hamas gunmen from the Gaza Strip lying on the ground in Kibbutz Kfar Aza, in southern Israel, Oct. 10, 2023. Photo: REUTERS/Ilan Rosenberg
In Northern California, just south of the renowned Silicon Valley, lies the small town of Gilroy, home to roughly 60,000 residents. Gilroy markets itself as a place defined by a tight-knit community and abundant nature. It is best known for its annual garlic festival.
Table of Contents in GMH TODAY magazine – Fall 2025. Photo: Screenshot
That is why it is so striking to find a piece in its community lifestyle publication, Gilroy Morning Hill TODAY, about the Israel-Hamas war that is so far beyond the pale – so riddled with distortions and omissions – that it reads less like a misguided explainer and more like an exercise in moral inversion.
In “Finding Our Feet in a World Upside Down: Why Facts Matter in Our Small Towns,” Mike Sanchez, more troublingly the magazine’s editor, presents a narrative that does not merely criticize Israel, but systematically distorts the war itself: downplaying Hamas’s atrocities on Oct. 7, including sexual violence now attested to by freed Israeli hostages, eyewitnesses, forensic experts, and international bodies, while omitting Hamas’s governing role in Gaza, erasing its responsibility for civilian suffering, and recycling a familiar catalogue of anti-Israel claims stripped of context and agency.
Photo: Screenshot
Rewriting Oct. 7
Sanchez’s description of Oct. 7, 2023, is revealing. He writes that “Hamas fighters breached the fence enclosing Gaza” and overran “21 Israeli settlements,” killing hundreds of Israeli soldiers and civilians. He claims they “stumbled upon” the Nova music festival, where festival-goers were hunted down, gang-raped, murdered, and kidnapped, violence he elsewhere casts doubt upon or dismisses entirely. He further suggests that the IDF was responsible for many civilian deaths that day, alleging soldiers were “instructed to kill everyone in sight, including comrades and civilians.”
Sanchez also writes that “Palestinian civilians who entered through the breaches were also caught in the bloodshed.” This phrasing erases the documented reality that many of those civilians actively participated in looting, assaults, kidnappings, and the abuse of hostages, including the scenes of Israeli hostages being paraded through Gaza and spat upon by crowds.
Perhaps recognizing, at some level, how offensive this framing is, Sanchez briefly acknowledges that Oct. 7 was “horrific.” But the concession is fleeting. Gaza, readers are told, is equally “horrific,” before the article devotes the next page and a half to a familiar catalogue of false accusations against Israel, presented as settled fact.
A Catalogue of Claims, Minus Responsibility
The article reproduces nearly every standard anti-Israel talking point: inflated casualty figures presented without any distinction between civilians and combatants; claims that Israel blocks aid while ignoring Hamas’s theft and diversion of humanitarian supplies; famine declarations treated as uncontested; accusations of deliberate hospital targeting without mention of Hamas’s use of civilian infrastructure; and assertions that journalists and entire families are being systematically wiped out.
International organizations and activist NGOs are treated as final arbiters of truth, despite their documented reliance on Hamas-controlled sources and their failure to interrogate casualty data or distinguish causes of death. One such citation is B’Tselem, invoked as proof that Israel is committing genocide, as though the claim itself settles the question.
Every talking point in the piece systematically omits Hamas’s role in the suffering of Gazans. There is no acknowledgment that Hamas hijacks humanitarian aid, embeds itself in civilian infrastructure, operates an extensive tunnel network beneath homes and hospitals, or infiltrates medical and UNRWA staff. Hamas’s own responsibility for Gaza’s water and electricity infrastructure, long predating this war, is ignored entirely.
When responsibility is stripped away this completely, outcomes are presented as facts, but they function as accusations.
By contrast, Israel has evacuated over 90 percent of Gaza’s population to designated areas in an effort, however imperfect, to mitigate civilian harm. Any analysis that excludes Hamas’s deliberately destructive strategy presents a fundamentally distorted picture of responsibility.
Bringing It Back Home to Gilroy
The article then attempts to explain why this distant war should matter to Gilroy readers. Here again, facts are selectively framed.
US military assistance to Israel is misrepresented as excessive spending beyond the agreed $3.8 billion framework, portrayed as yielding no returns, with no explanation of how US foreign military financing actually functions or who benefits from it.
Anti-Israel campus protests in the United States are described as suppressed expressions of dissent, with universities accused of violating students’ First Amendment rights. HonestReporting spent months documenting these protests. They were frequently aggressive, antisemitic, and openly supportive of terror organizations. Jewish and Zionist students were harassed, blocked from campus spaces, and made to feel unsafe. Universities were slow, and in many cases reluctant, to intervene.
The piece goes on to frame “anti-Zionist” Jewish Americans and other public figures as victims of persecution, while minimizing or ignoring hostility directed at Jews who support Israel. The message is reinforced visually with curated cultural imagery, a familiar aesthetic strategy that softens the article’s accusations while reinforcing its moral framing.
Where You Get Your Facts Matters
Perhaps a small-town lifestyle magazine should avoid topics far outside its expertise. But having chosen to engage, it bears responsibility for accuracy and balance.
Legacy outlets like The New York Times and the BBC deserve sustained scrutiny for biased and reckless reporting. But the ripple effect works both ways. A local publication like Gilroy Morning Hill TODAY can shape perceptions just as powerfully, especially in communities where readers trust it to inform rather than indoctrinate.
Sanchez urges readers to seek facts beyond their confirmation bias, yet relies almost exclusively on sources that reinforce his own. In a publication aimed at neighbors who live alongside Jewish community members, that imbalance is not harmless. It is careless at best, and misleading at worst.
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.
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Russians Retreat as Al Qaeda-Linked Jihadists, Tuareg Separatists Kill Mali’s Defense Minister, Capture Key Town
A Malian soldier stands in position with his weapon during an attack on Mali’s main military base Kati outside the capital Bamako, Mali, April 25, 2026. Photo: REUTERS/Stringer
The military junta in Mali came under attack this past weekend in multiple locations across the expansive desert nation, resulting in the death of Defense Minister Sadio Camara and the seizure of Kidal, a key town in the African country’s eastern region.
The strikes resulted from an alliance between Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin (JNIM,) an Al-Qaeda-linked jihadist group fighting to establish a state governed by strict Islamic Shariah law, and the Azawad Liberation Front (FLA), a Tuareg rebel separatist militia which seeks to form an independent nation in Mali’s northeast.
Local sources told France 24 that the groups had seized control of Kidal, a reported FLA stronghold, on Monday. This victory followed the retreat of Russia’s Africa Corps, the mercenary organization the Malian government had contracted at a monthly rate of $10 million to provide security.
Fox News Digital reported reviewing video of Russian mercenary casualties and Russian vehicles fleeing Kidal. An FLA spokesperson told the Associated Press that Russia’s Africa Corps had withdrawn and that a “white” agreement had been made.
Other locations hit by attacks included Kati, Gao, Sévaré, and Mopti.
JNIM took credit for bombings at Mali’s primary airport in Bamako.’
Meanwhile, JNIM is the suspect of a car bomb planted outside Camara’s home which exploded on Saturday, killing Mali’s top military leader and three other family members.
The attacks tell “every Malian, every regional capital, and every foreign partner that JNIM can operate at will inside the supposedly secure heart of the state,” Justyna Gudzowska, executive director of The Sentry, an investigative and policy group, told Reuters.
Mali’s military junta, which has ruled since August 2020, on Monday announced injuries sustained by two of its other leaders, Gen. Oumar Diarra, who serves as chief of the armed forces’ general staff, and Gen. Modibo Koné, director of the National Security Agency.
Yvan Guichaoua, a Sahel specialist at the German research center BICC, told Reuters that the attacks intended to “decapitate” the government.
A spokesperson for the US State Department said that the United States “strongly condemns” the terrorist attack in Mali.
“We extend our deepest condolences to the victims, their families, and all those affected,” the spokesperson added to Fox News Digital. “We stand with the Malian people and government in the face of this violence. The United States remains committed to supporting efforts to advance peace, stability, and security across Mali and the region.”
A statement from the office of UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said he is “deeply concerned by reports of attacks in several locations across Mali. He strongly condemns these acts of violence, expresses solidarity with the Malian people, and stresses the need to protect civilians and civilian infrastructure.”
Ulf Laessing, head of the Sahel program at the Konrad Adenauer Foundation in Germany, told Germany’s DW that the strikes were the biggest he had seen in the country in years.
“Remarkably, there has been a coordination between jihadists and Tuareg rebels, which have nothing in common, but they have a joint enemy,” Laessing said. “They staged together an attack in 2012 and took over northern Mali. Then later they fell out. The jihadists got rid of the Tuaregs. So, it’s remarkable that they made a comeback.”
According to a statement from Russia’s foreign ministry posted to Telegram, 250 militants struck the Bamako Senou International Airport and the military base nearby.
“The Malian Armed Forces repelled the attack and are currently taking further steps to eliminate the militia that may have been, reportedly, trained by Western security agencies,” the foreign ministry said. “Russia is deeply concerned about these developments. This terrorist activity poses a direct threat to the stability of friendly Mali and could have the most serious consequences for the entire region.”
Laessing also spoke to the Associated Press, calling the attack a major blow to Russia.
“The [Russian] mercenaries had no intelligence about the attacks and were unable to protect major cities,” he said. “They have unnecessarily worsened the conflict by not distinguishing between civilians and combatants.”
“The fact that the Malian military intelligence has not been able to detect that these attacks were about to take place is a major failure for them,” Nina Wilen, director for the Africa Program at Egmont Institute for International Relations, told DW, saying the attacks revealed how “strong JNIM has become over the past year.”
She noted that Camara had been a key figure in establishing relations with Russia, making him a symbolic figure to target and send a message opposing the presence of Russian troops.
Islamist activity in the Sahel of Western Africa has risen in recent years, causing analysts to label the region the most lethal place on the planet for terrorist deaths, with JNIM leading the body count.
The trend has caught the attention of Washington, DC.
“Across the Sahel in West Africa and in East Africa, terrorist groups are expanding, embedding, and operating with increasing capability,” US Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) said during a hearing last week on terrorism in Africa. “ISIS affiliates and al-Qaeda-linked groups are growing, controlling territory, and exploiting weak governance.”
“In region after region, terrorist groups are outpacing the ability of local governments to respond,” Cruz added. “The failures threaten our interest globally and endanger the American homeland. The threat is rapidly growing and demands attention.”
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US soldier charged for threatening to ‘kill every single Jew’ inside of a synagogue
(JTA) — A soldier stationed at Fort Polk in Louisiana was arrested last week after he told users on the popular messaging platform Discord that he planned to conduct a mass shooting at a synagogue.
Jakob Marcoulier, 22, was arrested last Thursday and charged with transmitting a threat in interstate commerce after the FBI’s National Threat Operations Center received a tip in February that he had made threats toward synagogues, according to the U.S. attorney’s office for the western district of Louisiana.
According to court documents, the FBI obtained audio from Discord in which Marcoulier allegedly said, “After this deployment if the Jews still have reign over our government, I am going to walk into a synagogue with my AK, with a 75-round drum mag, and all of my extra mags, with my level four plates, and my haka helmet that’s three plus, and I am going to kill every single Jew I know inside of that synagogue. And that’s my goal in life.”
During the communications, Marcoulier told the other users, “You guys will never do anything about but I will. I just have to finish this, I have to go back overseas and do what I have to do. And then you’ll see me in the news. I promise you.”
He also allegedly said that he would “kill these motherf—kers in order to make sure the white youth is f—king secured.”
It was not immediately clear when Marcoulier made the comments, but the United States and Israel jointly attacked Iran on Feb. 28 following a buildup of U.S. troops in the Middle East.
The Iran war has put Jewish institutions across the country and the around the world on high alert, with attacks on synagogues including arsons in Europe and a synagogue ramming in suburban Detroit last month.
“Threats against synagogues and Jewish Americans are threats to the religious freedom promised to every single one of us, and this Office and our law enforcement partners are committed to protecting those freedoms,” United States Attorney Zachary A. Keller said in a statement.
The post US soldier charged for threatening to ‘kill every single Jew’ inside of a synagogue appeared first on The Forward.
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J.D. Salinger asked publishers to remove references to his Jewish heritage, newly surfaced letters reveal
(JTA) — Acclaimed author J.D. Salinger asked his publisher to remove references to his Jewish heritage in the book jacket of “The Catcher in the Rye,” newly surfaced letters from 1951 reveal.
The request came in a letter from Salinger, a notoriously private man, and his editor, John Woodburn at publisher Little, Brown and Co. The correspondence, which took place in early 1951, predates the first publication of “The Catcher in the Rye,” Salinger’s hit coming-of-age novel.
“I don’t know that I’d like to have that Jewish-Irish business slapped on the jacket,” Salinger wrote. “Surely if it’s catchy, that is.”
The letter has come to light because Peter Harrington Rare Books, a bookseller based in London, has listed it as part of a package for sale in the New York International Antiquarian Book Fair, which begins on Thursday.
“The Catcher in the Rye,” a contemporary classic following the life of angsty boarding school student Holden Caulfield, is one of the best-selling books of all time.
Caulfield’s character is of Irish heritage, like Salinger’s mother. But Salinger was the son of Sol, a cheese salesman (whose wares might have been kosher) and the grandson of a rabbi on his father’s side. His mother, Marie Jillich, went by Miriam to appease her in-laws who disapproved of the mixed marriage. He learned his mother’s real name only around the time of his bar mitzvah.
To Woodburn, Salinger wrote that he worried about being pigeonholed as a Jewish-Irish writer if the book broadcast that information.
“My Jewish-Irishness isn’t quite so bizarre, as, say, [James] Thurber’s eyesight,” Salinger wrote, referring to the American author and cartoonist, who was legally blind by that time. “But nonetheless, second-rate reviewers would probably find the information just provocative enough to use and misuse over and over again, and I’d end up being expected to wear a Star of David and a Shamrock on the back of my sweatshirt. So, please, let’s be careful.”
Salinger’s other famous works include the 1948 short story “A Perfect Day for a Bananafish,” which follows the Irish Catholic-Jewish Glass family, who also make appearances in “Franny and Zooey.”
The letters, previously unpublished, were acquired from a private collector and will be on view at the New York International Antiquarian Book Fair at the Park Avenue Armory from Thursday to May 3.
The bookseller is also currently offering a first edition of the script of West Side Story, inscribed by all four writers of the play, book, and music: Leonard Bernstein, Jerome Robbins, Arthur Laurents, and Stephen Sondheim. Peter Harrington has also sold a rare, first printed edition of “De Bello Judaico” by Josephus Flavius, the first-century Roman-Jewish historian.
The triad of letters is currently offered at a set price of $47,500 and includes two typed letters by Salinger, with his signature, and a carbon copy of Woodburn’s reply. It also includes a reference to one of Salinger’s “lost stories,” a prequel to “Catcher in the Rye” that was not to be published until 50 years after his death.
Salinger died in 2010 at the age of 91. The “lost story,” “The Ocean Full of Bowling Balls,” was set to be published in 2060, but in 2013, it was pirated and leaked online.
The post J.D. Salinger asked publishers to remove references to his Jewish heritage, newly surfaced letters reveal appeared first on The Forward.