Coalition for Jewish Values, representing over 2,500 traditional, Orthodox rabbis in American public policy, today condemned The New York Times newspaper for publishing, without critical comment or rebuttal, an op-ed by a member of the Hamas terror organization blaming Israel for the destruction of Gaza City.
“By printing propaganda from an anti-Jewish terrorist organization,” said CJV Vice President Rabbi Dov Fischer, “The New York Times continues its long and sordid history of Antisemitic bias. America’s “paper of record” buried news of the Holocaust and Hitler’s atrocities from readers, and due to its influence, much of the nation’s media followed suit. Today The Times publishes libelous screeds about Orthodox Jewish institutions, and maintains a steady beat of distorted reporting on Israel that has poisoned generations of subscribers.”
In his published submission, Yahya Sarraj admits that, far from being democratically elected, he was appointed mayor of Gaza City by the Hamas terror organization, responsible for the mass murder, rapes, and beheadings that characterized its unprovoked attack upon Israel on October 7. Neither the genocidal charter of Hamas, nor the vile atrocities that initiated the current conflict, were deemed worthy of mention by Sarraj, and no Times editor demanded basic factual context before publishing Hamas propaganda.
“Everyone knows that the destruction he describes was the obvious consequence of Hamas’ unmitigated barbarism visited upon Israeli civilians,” added CJV Israel Regional Vice President Rabbi Steven Pruzansky, “and would end tomorrow were Hamas to surrender, lay down its weapons, and release the innocent men, women and children it now cages in terror tunnels like the ones it built with generous foreign aid beneath the schools, hospitals, mosques, residential buildings and streets of Gaza City. Yet The Times prints antisemitic propaganda, rather than, for example, an op-ed from the democratically-elected mayor of Sderot, a town rendered uninhabitable by Hamas missiles targeting its homes, schools, and synagogues.
“The blame for all civilian suffering lies solely at the feet of the genocidal terrorists who target them on one side, and use them as human shields on the other. The blame lies, as well, with The Times, which continues to peddle Jew-hatred in its pages.”
