The New York Times Under FIRE For Latest Controversial Heading

Daily Report September 30,2024

The New York Times is under fire for its portrayal of Hezbollah founder Hassan Nasrallah in an article which critics believe was designed to “humanize” the terrorist, a watchdog group said.

The article which labeled Nasrallah a “champion for ‘equality’ of all religious groups in the Middle East” drew ire after it was pointed out that he has openly advocated Israel’s destruction.

The byline-less piece, called “Protesters grieve with Nasrallah everywhere that is sold,” ran Saturday. That story called Nasrallah a “gifted orator” and noted that he has campaigned for “a single Palestine with equal rights for Muslims, Jews and Christians.

But Nasrallah, who was a vocal proponent for the elimination of the Jewish nation — and helped to create the very terror group that is responsible for killing Jews all throughout the world with random attacks on individuals — also defended his own use of Shia theology to justify harming others.

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The enormous bombing over Beirut on Friday killed Nasrallah, 64. In 1982, he helped establish the Hezbollah movement and by 1992 had emerged as its only leader. Supported by Iran, the group is blamed for a number of terror attacks going back a quarter century to bombings in Buenos Aires that the previous year killed 85 people at a Jewish center and 21 others on an Argentine-Israeli cultural center plane built fully with dynamite.

However, The Times article commended Nasrallah as “popular” among Shiite Muslims due to his social services in Lebanon. However, the paper’s description of Nasrallah’s legacy drew an outpouring of opprobrium.

Hezbollah carried out a number of suicide bombings in the 2000s inside Israel, aimed at civilians in public places such as restaurants and buses. In the latest incident this summer, Hezbollah fired on a soccer field in the Israeli- controlled Golan Heights, killing at least 12 people (most were between 10 and 20 years old).

Maboxel Nasrallah quickly drew criticisms from followers on social media, who criticized the academic for “burying his head in the sand” and promoting religious “bigotry”.

The Times was flooded with comments condemning the newspaper for sugar coating Hezbollah’s terrorist past, including one from an X user: “The Times readership is now down to liberal elites, politicians, Communists and Islamists.” It’s embarrassing,” added another user. Does anyone pass the NYT for real any longer? Other accused the newspaper of “whitewashing” the terror leader’s life and making “casual calls for genocide appear as something commendable.”

Nasrallah himself, speaking in a 2004 Times article quoted above, provides somewhat of a different perspective. He was heard to say, “If they all gather in Israel, it will save us the trouble of going after them worldwide.