NYT & Wash Post No More Subtle Bias

The New York Times and the Washington Post have decided that they will no longer be subtly biased in their editorial. This week they reached a new low, they turned their editorial pages over to Ahmed Yousef, a senior political adviser to Ismail Haniyeh of Hamas. Yousef spewed the usual Hamas venom. Justifying the recent coup in Gaza, and explaining how his favorite terrorist group is really a bunch of moderate Muslims who spend each evening sitting around a campfire while singing Kumbaya.

Each of these papers have an Editorial position which is strongly anti-Israel. Even though the publishing of this terrorist murderer's words as legitimate is reprehensible on the part of these disgusting excuses for journalism, at least this time they are being more open in their bias.

'NYT,' 'Washington Post' slammed over Hamas op-eds

NATHANIEL ROSEN / Jerusalem Post correspondent, THE JERUSALEM POST

Jun. 24, 2007

Several Jewish organizations expressed outrage following the publication of opinion pieces authored by a Hamas figure in two of the US's most prestigious newspapers on Wednesday.

Both The New York Times and The Washington Post ran op ed pieces by Ahmed Yousef, a senior political adviser to Ismail Haniyeh of Hamas, one of two competing Palestinian Authority prime ministers.

The columns, which didn't note that Hamas is recognized as a terrorist organization by the United States, sparked anger from many groups, including the Anti-Defamation League, which wrote to the Times the following day.

"Ahmed Yousef's preposterous picture of Hamas as a moderate, peace loving organization committed to a cease-fire with Israel has no basis in reality," wrote Glen S. Lewy, ADL national chairman.

"The chaos, violence and destruction in Gaza and the looting and dismantling of the security infrastructure and border control facilities that followed shows the real face of Hamas," he wrote.

Morton A. Klein, the Zionist Organization of America's national president, called the newspapers' decision to publish the pieces "appalling," adding that it was akin to printing an article by Holocaust architect Adolf Eichmann in 1942.

Klein went on to say that publishing columns by representatives of terrorist organizations only served to legitimize their views.

Both op eds sought to justify Hamas's takeover of the Gaza Strip and called on the United StatesMiddle East." to "engage with Hamas," urging the Bush administration "not to repeat the mistakes that have become the hallmarks of its actions in the

Throughout the editorials, Yousef said Hamas was committed to peace and blamed Israel and the US for the failures of the peace process.

Many in the pro-Israel community characterized the columns as little more than propaganda.

Yousef's articles were "gross misrepresentations" of the truth, according to Dr. Alex Safian, associate director of the Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting in America (CAMERA). For example, Safian said that although Yousef claimed in his Times editorial that Hamas adhered to an 18-month cease fire, Hamas, as the governing body of the PA, did nothing to stymie the rocket attacks that were being launched from Hamas-controlled territory.

"The newspapers are allowing the terrorist groups to lie about their positions, and that is simply unacceptable," said Safian. "It's nonsensical for the Washington Post and the New York Times to open up their pages to what is just pure propaganda."

Both newspapers told The Jerusalem Post it was against their policy to discuss editorial decisions.

Last July, Ismail Haniyeh authored a piece in the Washington Post titled "Aggression Under False Pretenses" that sought to justify attacks against Israel, saying that they were merely acts of fighting against "occupying soldiers."

As a result of articles like Haniyeh's, several readers formed Eye on the Post to monitor for bias in the paper's reporting.

According to Eye on the Post's chairman, Robert G. Samet, newspapers often justify printing such editorials by labeling them as "just an opinion." Still, he said, "That alone is not a sufficient justification to publish blatant false statements of fact."