Israel's U.N. envoy accuses New York Times of 'overt anti-Israel bias'

"Israel's Ambassador to the United Nations Gilad Erdan on Wednesday sent a letter to The New York Times' executive editor in which he sharply condemned the newspaper's ‘overt anti-Israel bias.’

Addressed to Joseph Kahn, Erdan called asymmetry in The Times' coverage of Israel, from opinion columns to news stories, ‘libelous narratives’ and demanded the reporting be rectified.

The ambassador cited a study conducted by Bar-Ilan University over the course of 2022 which found there were 361 articles focusing on Israel, most of which disparage Israel and brand it a human right's violator. The study, included in the letter, also shows that the number of opinion columns condemning Israel was almost double the number of columns condemning Iran, despite the fact that in the past year, the Ayatollah regime murdered innocent protestors in the street, oppressed women, and accelerated its nuclear program.

Erdan accused The Times, which has won 132 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any newspaper, of omitting details and distorting reality. Nicknamed ‘The Newspaper of record,’ The Times serves the largest urban Jewish community in the world.

‘The cornerstones of journalism ethics are truth, accuracy, and objectivity – values that, when it comes to Israel, The Times deliberately refuses to uphold,’ he wrote. ‘When The New York Times chooses to demonize Israel, the very least professional journalism demands is that the reader is exposed to the whole story in order to formulate an unbiased opinion. Yet when The Times reports Israel’s actions with nearly non-existent context, it actively contributes to warping the truth.’

‘Due to your whitewashing of Palestinian terror and the propagation of half-truths, your readers are hardly aware of these Jihadist organizations’ existence, let alone the constant threat they pose to Israel. In the future, if Israel is again forced to defend itself against indiscriminate Palestinian rocket fire on our homefront, whether from Gaza or Lebanon, your readership will unknowingly infer that Israel is the aggressor, despite the exact opposite being true. Through this deceitful coverage, The Times not only twists the truth but also incentivizes terrorism.’

’As you are aware, antisemitism is rising at a terrifying rate,’ Erdan continued. ‘Much of today’s violent Jew-hatred takes the form of Israel-hatred. And part of the blame for this growing bigotry lays on your shoulders. The New York Times’ libelous narratives are actively contributing to the growing hatred of my country, and as a result, your publication plays a role in endangering Jews around the globe.’..."