For 15 months, we have witnessed Zionists pursue the systematic and calculated destruction of all healthcare infrastructure in Gaza. We have witnessed children reciting scripture to bear the pain of surgery without anesthesia; patients with IVs in their arms immolated in tents outside incinerated hospitals; the decomposing bodies of premature babies; the uncovering of mass graves filled with corpses wearing scrubs and patient gowns. Every hospital has come under fire of snipers, drones, tank shells, and airstrikes; at the time of this writing, half have been restored by Palestinians to partial functionality. The Israeli Occupation Forces have kidnapped, tortured, and murdered hundreds of the doctors, nurses, medics, and medical students who embody the last line of defense — not of the self, but of the people, the land, and life itself.

The Zionist entity insists on dismantling the entire life-saving apparatus because its very existence thwarts their settler-colonial mandate. As long as Palestinians are kept alive, whether by armed fighter or by healthcare worker, the Zionist project cannot win. “We are a small brave nation,” Ghassan Kanafani said of Palestine in 1970, “who will fight to the last drop of blood to bring justice to ourselves after the world failed in giving it to us.”

The world’s failures have rarely been so profound. Today there is a ceasefire, won not because of our insufficient protests but because the people of the land waged a battle of patience. As Gaza rises, we must do our part to support the collective resilience of the Palestinian people.

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“All the Consent That’s Fit to Manufacture”

New York War Crimes

New York War Crimes

NYT VS. Palestine

How to Make a Genocide Disappear

The Times’ coverage of Israel’s most recent war on Gaza may be its darkest hour. Here, we break it down in detail.
March 14, 2024

Since October 7th, Israel has waged an indiscriminate war against the people of Gaza, murdering nearly 30,000 children and adults and destroying hospitals, schools, mosques, factories, and homes. This most recent assault on Gaza, which Israel had already been holding under siege for nearly two decades, has forced most of its surviving population to flee south to the city of Rafah, where they face mass starvation, the rapid spread of disease and a looming invasion. Israel's military and political leaders have openly and repeatedly declared that genocidal intent is driving the war.

If you’ve been reading The New York Times, you’ve heard a different story. According to this story, Israel has responded to an unexplainable attack by Hamas, a shadowy Islamist terror group, with proportional force. A story in which attacks on hospitals and schools are regrettable but necessary evils. In The Times’ surrealist account, the Israeli military stands on the front lines of feminism, queer rights and democracy. Hamas is to blame for the deaths of 30,000 Palestinians. The United States is a reproachful ally, not a calculating and enabling accomplice. A handful of Israeli hostages are worthy of dozens of tearful stories and op-eds, while thousands of Palestinians are kidnapped and tortured without fanfare. Even Israel’s widespread, targeted murder of at least 125 journalists — a horror that the newspaper, with its much-touted reverence for journalism, might be expected to take particular heed of — is rendered invisible.

Every choice The Times makes has serious consequences. What language does the paper use, and how does its language change when referring to different groups? What stories does it focus on, and what stories does it marginalize? How does it frame conflicts? What context does it provide — and what context does it obscure?

This section offers some answers to these questions through detailed analyses of The Times’ coverage of Israel’s most recent assault on Gaza. The close reading, data-driven investigation, and style guide in this section provide a line-by-line look at the way the Times has attempted to make a genocide palatable to the public.