The New York Times has removed a line in an article that had previously claimed that Israelis “view themselves as the victims of October 7”.
The article in question was originally published on Monday and concerned the new Naza documentary, which accuses the IDF of indiscriminately killing Palestinian civilians using AI-powered systems, a claim the IDF has since strongly denied.
The full paragraph in the Times piece read: “Israelis are deeply divided over how to apportion blame for the policy, military and intelligence failures that preceded the attack and the war. But Israelis still largely view themselves as the victims of October 7.”
Media watchdog the Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting and Analysis (Camera) told the Times of Israel: “Implying Israelis falsely view themselves as victims while downplaying October 7 ignores basic reality.
“Intelligence failures don’t negate civilian suffering. True journalistic integrity requires context and facts, not narrative spin.”
On deleting the line, the paper blamed an “editing error”, saying in a statement: “An earlier version of this article included a statement that was intended to convey Israelis’ perception of the government’s military response to the October 7 terror attack in relation to the attacks, but inadvertently suggested that Israelis’ experience as terror victims was a matter of perception.”
The original story was published the same day as the Times accused a peer-reviewed study, which alleged “systematic bias” in its coverage of Israel, of being misleading.
The review, which was carried out by Edieal Pinker of the Yale School of Management, suggested that the Times’ coverage of the conflict both downplayed Israeli deaths and minimised Palestinian violence.
The Times responded to the review by saying: “The advocates behind multiple studies on media bias cherry-pick data that supports their beliefs while ignoring any evidence to the contrary.
“We remain open to good-faith disagreement, but we will not let critics or advocacy campaigns move us away from independent reporting.”
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