The New York Times published a front page with a collage of child casualties of the recent Gaza-Israel conflagration. Slowly, we are discovering errors and misrepresentations in the piece, which actually serves as a microcosm of the information problems with Gaza.
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It should first be noted that there is nothing wrong with mourning the death of civilians, especially children. There is nothing wrong with listing all children killed in war, it IS horrific.
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One of the first problems to come out the NYT front page was the use of false images. Below is a picture that was used in the collage by NYT and was purported to be one of the child casualties.https://twitter.com/digfind_/status/1398660112051412998?s=21 …
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This problem is not unique to the NYTs, though others likely do it out of malice. False representations like this one were circulated throughout the recent operation.pic.twitter.com/9aSi9yPcTO
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False use of cute children, gore, and tragic imagery is done to inflame passions, and instil hatred toward Israeli forces. Here is an example from the recent conflict, in which pictures from Syria are presented as being from Gaza.https://twitter.com/Israellycool/status/1399015788208656384 …
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In previous rounds, there were famous cases of movie stills being passed off as supposed Israeli atrocities. These are not one off incidents.https://www.algemeiner.com/2014/07/15/hamas-uses-horror-movie-still-of-headless-girl-in-miniskirt-to-depict-gaza-casualties-on-social-media-warning-graphic-video/ …
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Another mistake in NY Times cover was that a 17 year old was actually a member of a terrorist organization. http://nytimes.com/2021/05/30/wor …pic.twitter.com/3QFLgNTc5W
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Use of child soldiers is nothing new for Palestinian terrorist organizations. When the time comes for casualties to be counted, they are listed as minors, which is correct, but the fact that they are combatants is glossed over.https://twitter.com/pcsweek/status/1362507180671332352?s=21 …
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In 2014, the Gaza health ministry, run by Hamas and controls the information on casualties, misrepresented a 9 year old auxiliary as a 24 year old soldier. Similarly, there are examples of soldiers in their 20s being listed as 13 year old non-combatants.https://www.terrorism-info.org.il/en/20713/
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This also extends to other forms of terrorism such as knife attacks, firebombs, and yes, stone throwing. Child terrorists are killed, hurt, or arrested, but their militant actions are whitewashed, and only their age or body are listed.
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Another issue was on the first day of the fighting,a family was killed in Beit Hanoun area, where IDF was not operating. according to IDF spokesman they were killed by an errant Gazan rocket. The two most likely families that this was were included in the NYT article.
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There were an estimated 680 Hamas and PIJ rockets to fall in the Gaza Strip. Many appeared to have fallen in populated areas.https://twitter.com/IDF/status/1397930644588535816 …
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Even with Iron Dome, emergency warning, and shelters, and a dozen civilians were killed in Israel, and around 1325 buildings and 738 cars were damaged by less successful rocket fall. It is unlikely that there was only one incident of damage within Gaza by errant rockets.
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sourcing is another issue. Besides Gaza health ministry, outlets often rely on NGOs for information. However, some have links to terrorist organizations or even active members terrorists within their ranks. This is the case with a source of NYT’s story.https://twitter.com/ngomonitor/status/1398734084357201931?s=21 …
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This is far from the first time shady NGOs have been used as sources of information. It happens all the time. https://www.gov.il/BlobFolder/generalpage/terrorists_in_suits/en/De-Legitimization%20Brochure.pdf …
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The above doesn’t capture all the problems or the scale in which they occur. Not does it address the problem of context. The IDF conducted an operation to remove a military threat, not to kill children.
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Among operations, this one stands out for accuracy. Over 1000 airstrikes, vast majority of 230 casualties were 160 enemy combatants, not civilians. It’s important to keep this context in mind, just as it’s important to keep in mind the worst cost of war.https://www.jpost.com/opinion/israels-gaza-operation-is-like-no-other-military-op-in-history-opinion-668709 …
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I don’t believe that the NYT acted maliciously or intentionally misled. There is an active campaign to warp and misrepresent information that comes out of Gaza, and to appeal to those that think that can understand a conflict solely by amount of children dead.
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The death of Palestinian children is tragic. However the use of their bodies by terrorist organizations as tools for propaganda is ghoulish, and must be fought.
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Additional note: The Shahid poster for the child soldier mentioned above was available already by May 22.https://twitter.com/AuroraIntel/status/1399108565038739461 …
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Additional note: I’ve been asked about corrections. NYT posted an article about the child soldier: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/30/world/middleeast/gaza.amp.html … And also issued a correction regarding the incorrect photo included: https://twitter.com/herbertnyt/status/1398694787222491139?s=21 … They also changed text that suggested mostly civilians killed.
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Another note: multiple comments have referred to children killed in proximity to relatives that were military targets. It’s unknown at this point wether the child below was actually part of a terrorist organization, but his father was.https://twitter.com/DigFind_/status/1399572411339591682 …
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Added context to this is that these children are not the targets, they are in close proximity to military targets. It is still a tragedy that innocents lose their lives. However it must be noted the IDF employs multiple tactics to avoid as many civilian casualties as possible.
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