A new teaspoon of hate,” from the very ‘newspaper’ that brought us Holocaust Denial
Journalism, Media, and the New York Times … is there no shame?
Jew hate goes viral — all around the world, and here at home: what does this even mean for America’s Jews?
Having just “experienced” the 9th day of the month of Av, our reading(s) for the coming Shabbat reflect a time of both compassion and comfort for the Jews as reflected in the Hebrew name of: Shabbat Nachamu (a Sabbath of comfort) for this coming Shabbat.
Yet, the taste of Jewhate remains in our mouths, much to the delight of ‘the others’ who exhibit a certain ‘ecstatic euphoria’ when Jews are murdered and humiliated, unfortunately not always in that order.
unlocked: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KSIYp5CsxUw
Witness, this very week of Tisha b’Av, a video ^ of a starved, kidnapped, and emaciated Jewish hostage, forced on camera in a darkened tunnel, to dig his own grave. This video assists us in understanding the depth of our media, (and even) along with the New York Times, which remains exceptionally adept in perpetuating lies about Jews: perpetuating the very libel, known as the Jewish Blood Libel, in our own time.
This brings us to the admonition of both the Torah in general and in our readings for this week: to “therefore choose life,” which essentially reminds us that “never again” are we to willingly give up our lives and accept this particular fate of eternal damnation and death.
Over the last 20 centuries, there seems to have been but few options. In the 20th Century and now in the 21st Century, many of the “nations of the earth” including many of the West have become rather uncomfortable with Jews, along with the Jewish State not only defending itself, but surviving and “astoundingly to the point of their collective frustration and anger,” the Jewish People has gained soveriengty in its land and contiues to defend itself. The Jews, to the many “Nations of the Earth,” refuse to accept the fate that the world had hoped for us.
Thus, now more than ever, we are reminded that “Never again” is actually . . . . right now.
It might now be best for the Jewish People to be literate-enough to read ‘the writing on the wall’ that is much clearer this week than at any time in the recent past year — and disinclined to continue to read the filth that passes for journalism, especially of a paper that considers itself as ‘the paper of record.’ (Irony, at best, and simply obscene).
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Commentary Magazine, Seth Mandel writes:
Below, uncovering the current state of what “many” think (or believe) to be “Responsible Journalism.” Here, uncovering what went on behind the scenes at the New York Times, the same newspaper that brought Holocaust Denial to the world, especially to the delight of those who cannot believe that the Jews dare to remain alive and defend themselves.
unlocked: https://www.commentary.org/seth-mandel/when-the-narrative-collapses/
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We now know what went on behind the scenes at the New York Times in the run-up to the publication of the now infamous deceptive photo – and it’s quite revealing.
“Last week’s Mideast discourse was dominated by revelations of falsified accusations of war crimes against Israel, this time regarding the lie that the Jewish state is intentionally starving Gazan children to death. Since then, we’ve learned more about the photographic hoax at the center of the controversy—and specifically how this new information demolishes the feeble justifications so many of Israel’s critics put forth.
“As is now known, a wide array of media outlets used a picture of a boy suffering from cerebral palsy as an example of a child ‘born healthy’ and being starved by Israel. Many of those defending the use of the photo did so based on the premise that even if the media knew it painted a false picture, publishing the image was still a defensible act because the child is suffering from even more than malnutrition; therefore, the malnutrition part makes the photo true enough.
“But it doesn’t, of course. And it turns out that New York Times editors tried desperately to avoid using a photo of a child with preexisting conditions precisely because they understood it to be unethical. Semafor relates some of the behind-the-scenes discussions at the Times:
“‘Last Thursday at 3 pm, the Times was preparing to run images of Youssef Matar, a young child in Gaza with cerebral palsy who was suffering from lack of nourishment, alongside its July 24 story that cited doctors in Gaza finding ‘an increasing number of their patients are suffering and dying — from starvation.’
“‘But the Times’ topmost editors wanted to err on the side of caution. After viewing the gutting photo, according to communications viewed by Semafor, they worried that it might inadvertently call into question the paper’s reporting, which said that many of the children suffering from hunger did not have preexisting health issues.’
“According to Semafor, the Times‘ managing editor Marc Lacey asked why they would use a misleading picture “when there is presumably no shortage of images of children who were not malnourished before the war and currently are?” Executive editor Joe Kahn, per internal communications seen by Semafor, put it simply: “The story isn’t framed around people with special needs and the lead art really should not do that, either.”
“Absolutely correct, as anyone who has worked in news reporting would know.
“So the idea that it would be fine to use the picture knowing the boy had cerebral palsy has been obliterated: The Times had already changed its prospective front page to avoid that very mistake.
“But there’s more to learn from the Times’ internal communications. Notice that the editors tell the staff that the story is specifically supposed to make the point that children in Gaza without preexisting conditions are suffering from malnutrition. If the reports of such widespread hunger are true, they explained, there should be plenty of photos that show exactly that. And therefore, the Times must reject its first proposed front-page photo, which did not meet those criteria.
“And yet, *the photo they replaced it with also did not meet that criteria* [emphasis in the original]. It must be very easy to find proof that Israel is deliberately starving otherwise healthy children, they said—our reporting makes that claim! And then they proceeded to fail to find a usable example of such a case. They hadn’t realized, they say, that this child also had cerebral palsy, just like the first child they considered using.
“You can see it slowly dawning on them that there’s something else entirely going on here, that the trend is not what they believe it to be. You can even sense the frustration creeping into their communication: You reporters, they explain, are saying one thing and then showing us another—and then after we corrected you on it, you did it again!
“The unspoken next thought is: Perhaps it isn’t so easy to prove this claim about Israel.”
They are SO close to getting it. Their next thought should be: How did we get to a place where our reporters are so single-mindedly obsessed with proving that Israel is evil that they’re willing to bend reality?
And the next one: Why don’t we go back to basics and start by reporting—honestly and without fear or favor, as the journalistic credo once held—and let the actual facts on the ground lead us, and our readers, to conclusions, rather than the other way around?
But of course these questions won’t be asked – not out loud in any case. As Seth Mandel concludes:
“The apologies owed won’t be coming any time soon. That’s because the people accusing Israel supporters of cruelty are themselves the very definition of propagandists: They will defend the printing of terrorist propaganda even knowing its falsity. That is worth keeping in mind, because they will soon do it again.”
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We carry the past within us: within our consciousness and within our identity.
And when at times, we will momentarily forget this, then just as quickly, we are reminded of it . . .
On a day like today: Am Yisrael Chai, no less.
