ACTION ALERT: NYT’s War on Words: Avoid ‘Palestine,’ ‘Genocide,’ ‘Ethnic Cleansing’

Featured image: The New York Times Building (Creative Commons photo: Wally Gobetz)

New York Times editors issued a memo to staffers that warned against the use of “inflammatory language and incendiary accusations on all sides”—but the instructions offered by the memo, which was leaked to the Intercept (4/15/24), seemed designed to dampen criticism of Israel’s actions in Gaza and to reinforce the Israeli narrative of the conflict.

‘Brutal’ Is a Word Mostly Reserved for Palestinian Violence

A FAIR study finds that since October 7, the New York Times, the Washington Post, and the Wall Street Journal have overwhelmingly applied the term “brutal” to violence committed by Palestinians rather than by Israelis. In doing so, journalists helped justify US support for the assault on Gaza and shield Israel from criticism, particularly in the early months of the onslaught.

Can't we get a nationwide gag order against Trump's violent threats?

Republican presidential candidate and former President Donald Trump thanks supporters after speaking at a Get Out The Vote rally at Winthrop University on February 23, 2024 in Rock Hill, South Carolina. (Win McNamee/Getty Images)

On Christmas Day in 1170, as the story goes, King Henry II, exasperated by his disputes with Thomas Becket, the Archbishop of Canterbury, said something along the lines of “Will no one rid me of this turbulent priest?” Days later, Becket was dead, murdered by knights who had heeded his majesty’s call. 

Israel Is Wielding Starvation as a Weapon of War

Israel is wielding starvation as a weapon of war, imposing a famine on the more than two million Palestinians trapped in Gaza, one million of whom are children. Twenty-seven children have already starved to death since Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant declared, on October 9th, “There will be no electricity, no food, no fuel, everything is closed…We are fighting human animals.”

'Unprecedented In Modern History': U.S. Aid Experts Warn Gaza Likely Already Experiencing Famine

U.S. Aid Experts Warn Gaza Likely Already Experiencing Famine

A group of U.S. government humanitarian experts on Tuesday privately warned fellow officials that the spread of hunger and malnutrition in Gaza amid the U.S.-backed Israeli offensive is “unprecedented in modern history,” famine is likely already occurring in parts of the Gaza Strip and the pace of hunger-releated deaths will “accelerate in the weeks ahead.”

 

Israel Must Change Its Policy on Humanitarian Aid to Gaza

Sen. Bernie Sanders, a Vermont independent, said Sunday that the Biden administration needs to make clear to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that if his government wants to continue to receive support from the U.S., Israel must change its policy,on humanitarian aid to Gaza (CBS Face the Nation, March 10, 2024).

[The following is a transcript of an interview with Sen. Bernie Sanders, Independent of Vermont, that aired on March 10, 2024.]