NYT in the US removes phrase about Israelis as victims of October 7 — Jerusalem Post
The American newspaper The New York Times removed from an article about the Israeli documentary NAZA a sentence that could have created the impression that Israelis’ status as victims of the October 7 attack is a matter of perception. The publication also added an editor’s note explaining that the change was due to an editing error, the Jerusalem Post reports.
Which sentence was removed
The original version of an article by NYT correspondent Isabel Kershner included a phrase stating that Israelis largely see themselves as victims of October 7. It was placed after a paragraph about divisions in Israel over responsibility for the political, military and intelligence failures that preceded the Hamas-led attack.
The article also noted that about 1,200 people were killed in Israel during the October 7, 2023 attack, while about 250 people were taken hostage. After criticism of the wording, the NYT deleted the sentence and added an editorial explanation.
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The editorial explanation
In its editor’s note, the newspaper said that the previous version was intended to convey Israelis’ perception of the government’s military response to the attack. At the same time, the wording could have made it appear that Israelis’ experience as victims of terrorism was merely a matter of perception.
The article in which the deleted sentence appeared focused on the reaction in Israel to the documentary NAZA. It was made by Israeli directors Yuval Avraham and Rachel Szor; the film focuses on the deaths of Palestinian civilians in the war in Gaza. The corrected version of the article remains available with the editor’s note.
Debate over coverage of the war
The Jerusalem Post also writes that a peer-reviewed study of 1,559 NYT articles published in the month after October 7 was released this month. The study’s authors argue that the outlet’s materials disproportionately portrayed Palestinians as victims and Israel as an aggressor. The findings and methodology of the work became part of a broader discussion about international media coverage of the war.
