Why does the New York Times incessantly attack Israel?

Dear Friend of FLAME:

When it comes to reporting or commenting on the State of Israel, the New York Times, the so-called American “paper of record,” has become more akin to an anti-Zionist advocacy organization than an unbiased news outlet, sometimes even descending into outright anti-Semitism.

According to the president and CEO of the Jewish Council for Public Affairs (JCPA) David Bernstein, the NYT holds “ a decided institutional bias” against Israel. This was after his organization researched 107 editorials on Israel and Jews published in the Times since 2016.

The situation has become so extreme, that Bari Weiss, the Jewish opinion writer and editor, and one of the few openly and proudly Zionist voices employed by the NYT in recent years, felt forced to resign from her position as op-ed staff editor in July 2020 because of harassment by her colleagues, including being called “Nazi” and “racist” and intimations that she wrote too many “Jewish stories.”

Apparently, though Jews are by far the biggest victims of hate crimes in the U.S. (as well as remarkable in dozens of inspiring ways), enough is enough at the Times with Jewish this and Jewish that.

The New York Times wasn’t always unfavorable towards the State of Israel and has allowed a variety of voices, including those who wrote in a more nuanced manner about the Jewish state, like William Safire and Abe Rosenthal. However, in recent years, all pretenses have been removed and the paper has taken an extremely hostile line towards Israel.

The Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting in America (CAMERA), a media-monitoring organization devoted to promoting accurate and balanced coverage of Israel and the Middle East, has long chronicled a history of New York Times bias against Israel. In a study undertaken in 2011, CAMERA found a “disproportionate, continuous, embedded indictment of Israel that dominates both news and commentary sections. Israeli views are downplayed while Palestinian perspectives, especially criticism of Israel, are amplified and even promoted.

“The net effect is an overarching message, woven into the fabric of NYT coverage, of Israeli fault and responsibility for the conflict.”

Two of the authors of that study, senior CAMERA analysts Ricki Hollander and Gilead Ini, explained the NYT tactics: “Without employing the type of crude incitement against Israelis that is rampant in Palestinian society, the NYT poisons the public’s mind against Israel by shaping the perception of the Jewish state as responsible for many, if not most, of the region’s ills. It does this with double standards in reporting about Israel versus her enemies and recounting only half the story,” Hollander and Ini explained in an interview. “It sanitizes the role of Israel’s adversaries, including terrorist organizations, and obsessively indicts Israel at every turn.”

In April 2019, the New York Times coverage of Israel turned into naked and open anti-Semitism. The paper published an anti-Semitic caricature of US President Donald Trump and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, with the Israeli PM as a guide dog wearing a Star of David on his collar, leading a blind Trump, seen wearing a skullcap. Only after massive outrage, did the NYT apologize for an image which “included anti-Semitic tropes,” and called its use an “error of judgment.”

This event led to greater interest in the general workings of the New York Times among Jews and pro-Israel voices. JCPA’s Bernstein wrote about a conversation he had with a friend who was a long-time subscriber to the paper: “The cartoon confirmed his suspicion that the Times’ culture is fundamentally hostile toward Jews and Israel,” Bernstein wrote a letter to the Times, signed by scores of national and local Jewish groups, excoriating the newspaper for publishing an inflammatory and hateful cartoon and demanding a meeting.

During his organization’s research, he found that the NYT editorials were almost uniformly critical of Israeli government policy. In fact, not one editorial had an overall positive valance toward Israel. The majority upbraided the Israeli government for lack of progress on a two-state solution, settlements, and anti-democratic legislation.

In recent months, the Times has outdone itself in allowing for op-eds by numerous figures who envision a world without the State of Israel in its current form. In July of last year, Peter Beinart was allowed to pen an op-ed calling for the elimination of the State of Israel and attacking Zionism, the belief in the right of the Jewish people to self-determination, titled “I No Longer Believe in a Jewish State.”

While Beinart has long described himself as a “liberal Zionist,” it is clear this was a fig leaf for more sinister views. As global communications director for the American Jewish Committee (AJC), Avi Mayer tweeted in response to the article, “let’s be clear: you’re no friend of the Jews if you deny us our right to self-determination and you’re not a liberal Zionist if you want Israel to disappear.” Indeed, denial of Israel’s right to exist as a Jewish state is recognized by most Jewish organizations, including Facts and Logic About the Middle East, as outright anti-Semitism.

While some might argue that an op-ed writer’s views are not indicative or reflective of a paper’s values, three months after writing his outrageous screed, Beinart was handed a position at the NYT as a contributing opinion writer. In addition, only a few weeks ago, the Times again allowed a piece decrying the very concept of Israel as a sovereign Jewish state, when Bernard Avishai and Sam Bahour wrote “Want Israeli-Palestinian Peace? Try Confederation”—which urged a one-state solution. These are just two recent examples of the high visibility the NYT provides to those who want to see an end to the State of Israel.

One would be hard pressed to show anything written in the Times (or most any publication) comparable to this about any other sovereign state. However, calling into question the future of the world’s only Jewish state is something the NYT editorial team obviously enjoys seeing on its pages.

The New York Times was once considered one of the most reputable news organizations in the world. Thus, what it writes matters to millions of people. Most readers assume its reporting is accurate and its editorials unbiased. However, that is plainly false.

I hope you will point out to friends, family, colleagues and your elected representatives that the Times’ frequent attacks on the Jewish state have become so unbalanced, they have descended into anti-Semitism and allowed enemies who seek Israel’s imminent demise a national platform with which to express their aims.

The Times certainly doesn’t deserve any longer to be considered anyone’s “paper of record”—or respected by anyone who values the truth.

I hope you’ll also take a minute, while you have this material front and center, to forward this message to friends, visit FLAME’s lively Facebook page and review the P.S. immediately below. It describes FLAME’s new hasbarah campaign—which exposes the dangerous folly of the U.S. trying to entice Iran back intro the failed “Iran Deal” of 2015.

Best regards,

Jim Sinkinson
President, Facts and Logic About the Middle East (FLAME)