Slanted ‘New York Times’ story accepts Israeli blame of Hamas as fact

James North and Phil Weiss 

Today the left-hand top of the New York Times front page carries a story about the murders of the Israeli teens. We expected tilted coverage, but not this tilted. The piece accepts the Israeli charge that Hamas killed the boys as fact– and waits until the ninth paragraph to include a Hamas denial, in passing.

The Times leaves the impression that a leading Palestinian political group wants to murder Israeli civilians, so Israel has no choice but to pulverize that group and its followers– and how could any Israeli government be expected to deal with a Palestinian government that includes Hamas. There is no mention of the rogue group, reported by al Monitor, that is widely believed even by Israeli authorities to be responsible for the killings. No experts on the region are quoted on what could have motivated Hamas to commit these murders. The Israeli government’s outrage over the recent unification deal between Fatah and Hamas goes unmentioned. The simple issue, Who benefits from these killings? is not broached. The implication is that it’s in Palestinian DNA to kill Jews.

The Times story, by Jodi Rudoren and Isabel Kershner, begins blaming Hamas in the second paragraph. Paragraphs 2-5:

A nation that had been enmeshed in hopeful prayer was instantly engulfed by a mix of grief and anger and vowed retaliation against the militant Palestinian group Hamas, which Israel says was behind the killings.

“They were kidnapped and murdered in cold blood by beasts,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel said at the start of an emergency cabinet meeting Monday night. “Hamas is responsible, and Hamas will pay.”

Just after midnight, witnesses in Hebron, the West Bank’s largest city, said the retaliation had begun as Israeli forces used explosives to demolish the homes of Marwan Qawasmeh and Amer Abu Aisha, the Hamas men who have been missing since the teenagers vanished and who are Israel’s prime suspects.

By 4 a.m. Tuesday, Israel had pummeled the Hamas-dominated Gaza Strip with 34 airstrikes, continuing an escalation in which Gaza militants fired a barrage of rockets toward southern Israel on Monday after two weeks of tit-for-tat in which Israeli bombs killed three suspected militants….

Hamas Hamas Hamas. Not till the 9th paragraph do we get this pat denial:

Early Tuesday, Sami Abu Zuhri, a Hamas spokesman, issued a statement saying “no Palestinian group, Hamas or any other group,” had taken responsibility.

“We reject all Israeli allegations and threats against us,” he said. “We are already used to it and will know how to defend ourselves.”

Compare the Times report to Al Monitor’s coverage of the rogue clan–that includes Marwan Qawasmeh and Amer Abu Aisha, the men named by the Times — which authorities believe to be responsible:

Though the clan is known for identifying with Hamas, it also has a well-earned reputation as troublemakers. Not only does it tend to ignore the movement’s leaders. It even acts counter to the policies being advocated by the movement.

And while the Times has extensive coverage (in sidebars) of the biographies of the three Israeli boys, it leaves five Palestinian victims of the Israeli retaliation for the abductions nameless:

Israel’s crackdown in the West Bank prompted outcries of collective punishment as thousands of homes were searched, 400 Palestinians — including many of Hamas’s top leaders — were arrested, and five were killed while hurling stones at soldiers or otherwise confronting them.

The Times quotes the mother of one of the Palestinian suspects in the murders as committing her grandchildren to “jihad.” Echoed by Rudoren’s tweet:

Jodi Rudoren @rudoren

Follow

Amer Abu Aisha's mother said her home has been demolished and that she will raise Amer's three sons to be martyrs for jihad

Yes and what about the motivation of the Israelis who are demolishing homes and shooting at Palestinians? The violence here is hardly one-sided.