Get the story the New York Times wants. By any means necessary.

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Fig. 1. The ruins of a terminal at the Gaza airport. Image by Said Khatib (Agence France-Presse) on September 9, 2018, via the Times of Israel,^[1] fair use.

The question has never been whether individual acts of sexual assault may have occurred on October 7. Rape is not uncommon in war, and there were also several hundred civilians who poured into Israel from Gaza that day in a “second wave,” contributing to and participating in the mayhem and violence. The central issue is whether the New York Times presented solid evidence to support its claim that there were newly reported details “establishing that the attacks against women were not isolated events but part of a broader pattern of gender-based violence on Oct. 7” — a claim stated in the headline that Hamas deliberately deployed sexual violence as a weapon of war.^[2]

Let’s just say the New York Times fucked up. Badly. Unacceptably badly. There is, in fact, extremely limited evidence that Hamas fighters raped women on their October 7 rampage. But the Times wanted a story that Hamas fighters had systematically raped women. So it got one. By any means necessary, including uncritically relying on false and discredited sources, and twisting what little evidence it had to support the desired narrative.^[3] Everyone involved in this story should be fired. I don’t care how many Pulitzer Prizes any of them won. Fire them all. Now. And publish all their names so nobody ever hires them again.

One Times reporter said colleagues are wondering what a balanced approach might look like: “I am waiting to see if the paper will report in depth, deploying the same kind of resources and means, on the United Nations’ report that documented the horrors committed against Palestinian women.”^[4]

Ibrahim Dahman, “Palestinian Authority prime minister and government resign,” CNN, February 26, 2024, https://www.cnn.com/2024/02/26/middleeast/palestinian-authority-prime-minister-resigns-intl/index.html

Nina Lakhani, “Israel is deliberately starving Palestinians, UN rights expert says,” Guardian, February 27, 2024, https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/feb/27/un-israel-food-starvation-palestinians-war-crime-genocide

Ishaan Tharoor, “Netanyahu’s ‘day after’ plan for Gaza is unviable,” Washington Post, February 27, 2024, https://www.washingtonpost.com//world/2024/02/27/post-war-gaza-plan-netanyahu-israel-day-after-future-abbas/

Kelsey Ables and Andrew Jeong, “Over 100,000 Michigan primary votes were ‘uncommitted.’ What does that mean?” Washington Post, February 28, 2024, https://www.washingtonpost.com/elections/2024/02/28/uncommitted-votes-meaning-michigan/

Aaron Blake, “Four takeaways from the Michigan primary,” Washington Post, February 28, 2024, https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/02/27/4-takeaways-michigan-primary/

Eric Bradner, “Biden and Trump will easily win Michigan primaries, CNN projects,” CNN, February 28, 2024, https://www.cnn.com/2024/02/27/politics/biden-trump-michigan-primaries/index.html

John Cassidy, “Michigan’s “Uncommitted” Democrats Send a Message to Biden,” New Yorker, February 28, 2024, https://www.newyorker.com/news/our-columnists/michigans-uncommitted-democrats-send-a-message-to-biden

Tony Diver, “Michigan primary results: Joe Biden wins but young and Arab Democrats rebel over Israel,” Telegraph, February 28, 2024, https://www.telegraph.co.uk/us/politics/2024/02/28/michigan-primary-results-polls-vote-republicans-trump-haley/

Caleb Ecarma, “Why Michigan’s Protest Vote Could Change Joe Biden’s Calculus: ‘There Will Be Political Consequences,’” Vanity Fair, February 28, 2024, https://www.vanityfair.com/news/michigan-vote-change-joe-biden-calculus

Lauren Fedor and James Politi, “Joe Biden faces dissent over Gaza as he wins Michigan Democratic primary,” Financial Times, February 28, 2024, https://www.ft.com/content/4dbd9253-5147-4bbd-9e09-276e48e3f799

Ron Kampeas, “‘Uncommitted’ campaign protesting Biden’s Israel support nets 100,000+ votes in Michigan primary,” Jewish Telegraphic Agency, February 28, 2024, https://www.jta.org/2024/02/27/politics/campaign-protesting-bidens-support-for-israel-celebrates-as-tens-of-thousands-vote-uncommitted-in-michigan-primary

Jeremy Scahill, Ryan Grim, and Daniel Boguslaw, “The Story Behind the New York Times October 7 Exposé,” Intercept, February 28, 2024, https://theintercept.com/2024/02/28/new-york-times-anat-schwartz-october-7/

Adrienne Mahsa Varkiani, “Want Some Good News? Another State Has Booted Trump From the Ballot,” New Republic, February 29, 2024, https://newrepublic.com/post/179400/good-news-illinois-trump-ballot

^[1]Agence France-Presse and Times of Israel, “20 years after its opening, destroyed Gaza airport embodies grounded peace hopes,” Times of Israel, September 12, 2018, https://www.timesofisrael.com/20-years-after-its-opening-destroyed-gaza-airport-embodies-grounded-peace-hopes/↩
^[2]Jeremy Scahill, Ryan Grim, and Daniel Boguslaw, “The Story Behind the New York Times October 7 Exposé,” Intercept, February 28, 2024, https://theintercept.com/2024/02/28/new-york-times-anat-schwartz-october-7/↩
^[3]Jeremy Scahill, Ryan Grim, and Daniel Boguslaw, “The Story Behind the New York Times October 7 Exposé,” Intercept, February 28, 2024, https://theintercept.com/2024/02/28/new-york-times-anat-schwartz-october-7/↩
^[4]Jeremy Scahill, Ryan Grim, and Daniel Boguslaw, “The Story Behind the New York Times October 7 Exposé,” Intercept, February 28, 2024, https://theintercept.com/2024/02/28/new-york-times-anat-schwartz-october-7/↩
^[5]Ben Jennings, “Ben Jennings on Donald Trump’s progress along the Republican nomination trail – cartoon,” Guardian, January 24, 2024, https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/picture/2024/jan/24/ben-jennings-on-donald-trumps-progress-along-the-republican-nomination-trail-cartoon ↩

Irregular Bullshit

Get the story the New York Times wants. By any means necessary.

Imperialism

Israel

Palestine

Illiberalism

Gilead

Donald Trump

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