The New York Times has twice in the past week turned reality on its head by effectively declaring the creation of ‘Palestine.’
On August 23, Will Shortz, editor of the NYT’s crossword puzzle, produced a “clue” referring to the “Largest city in the Palestinian state.”
The NYT crossword puzzle in 2019 surpassed the 500,000 subscription mark, an increase of more than 100,000 during the preceding 12-month period. As the crossword is syndicated by hundreds of others news outlets, millions upon millions of people are potentially exposed to it each day.
And then there’s this August 30 headline that appeared on The New York Times website:
The New York Times is regarded by many as the “newspaper of record” and therefore as an authoritative source. The paper claims its digital platforms are the top destination for “opinion leaders” and, overall, reach more than 164 million people. Meanwhile, nearly 60 percent of the outlet’s US audience is apparently made up of impressionable Gen Z and Millennial readers.
As such, the NYT has a major responsibility to get the facts right on a topic as complex and nuanced as the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Instead, it has conjured up a country — “Palestine” — that does not exist according to international law and never has.
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Statehood is a UN fact, not a New York Times opinion
While the United Nations General Assembly in 2012 voted to accept ‘Palestine’ as a non-member observer state, this did not confer full sovereignty upon the government in Ramallah. In fact, recognition of statehood is contingent on the recommendation of the Security Council. Accordingly, the current status of ‘Palestine’ is the same as that of the Holy See (Vatican), which is clearly not an independent country.
For good measure, consider this quote from the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development website:
While the State of Israel was established on 15 May 1948 and admitted to the United Nations, a Palestinian State was not established.”
Related Reading: Arafat Rejected Peace in 2000
Path to statehood goes through Oslo, not the New York Times
Meanwhile, there is an actual mechanism in place to facilitate the creation of ‘Palestine’ — and it has nothing to do with The New York Times seemingly injecting its own politics into the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
The Oslo Accords forged in 1993 between Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) led to the creation of the Palestinian Authority (PA) the next year. The agreement was based on a promise by the Palestinian leadership to renounce terrorism and resolve all outstanding issues with Israel via bilateral negotiations.
This did not happen.
Notably, the Oslo Accords did not create ‘Palestine’ but, rather, granted the PLO and later the PA a measure of autonomy in parts of the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
Related Reading: Media Silent on Abbas Beginning 17th Year of Four-year Term
Perhaps most importantly, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas has since his election in 2005 rejected numerous Israeli peace overtures and has instead implemented policies that make ending the conflict much more difficult.
For example:
- Abbas’ PA incentivizes the murder of Jews through its “pay-for-slay” scheme that provides monthly “salaries” to Palestinian terrorists and their families, with more money being doled out to those who perpetrate the deadliest attacks.
- Abbas hails terrorists as heroes and has routinely named schools and public squares after them. PA-produced television programs brainwash young Palestinians to follow in their bloody footsteps.
- Abbas in 2008 rejected a comprehensive Israeli offer for Palestinian statehood and effectively shunned US initiatives to restart peace talks in 2014 and 2016, respectively.
- Abbas rejected out of hand the Trump administration’s peace plan even as Israel signed normalization agreements with four Arab countries under the auspices of the Abraham Accords.
Accordingly, The New York Times is creating its own facts and thus effectively denying reality. In doing so, the paper is essentially legitimizing unilateral Palestinian efforts to achieve statehood while bypassing peace talks with Israel.
Help fight for media accuracy by contacting Amelia Nierenberg, The New York Times Briefings Writer, at @AJNierenberg (Twitter). Linda Qiu, The New York Times Fact Checker can be reached by Twitter at @YLindaQiu or by sending an email to [email protected].
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