The firing of two rockets from Gaza towards the Tel Aviv metropolitan area for the first time since 2014 produced plenty of headlines, mostly leading with Israel’s response.
While most headlines did mention that Israeli air strikes on Gaza were in retaliation for the rockets, they still left an impression that “it all started when Israel fired back.”
So it was a pleasant surprise to see the New York Times, of all media outlets, publish this headline that got it spot on:
We even tweeted our appreciation, savoring the moment.
But this is the New York Times and it didn’t take long for normal service to be resumed – some four hours later to be precise.
That was the point when the headline was amended to this:
In itself, it isn’t technically incorrect but what it does do is shift the emphasis away from the initial Palestinian rocket attack and makes the Israeli response the primary subject.
Moreover, what does it say about New York Times editors that it was even felt necessary to make this change (assuming, of course that it wasn’t a negative reaction to being praised by HonestReporting)?
© Divuach Ne’eman R”A, 2025
