Los Angeles Times Falsely Claims All 1948 Palestinian Arab Refugees Were Expelled

By: Tamar Sternthal February 24, 2025
In their Feb. 12 page-A1 article, “Jordan makes its case against Trump’s Gaza plan,” veteran Los Angeles Times journalists Tracy Wilkinson and Nabih Bulos wrongly reported that all of the 1948 Palestinian Arab 1948 were expelled, when in fact most fled (also online here).

The Arab section of Safed, 1946 (Photo by Kluger Zoltan, GPO Photo Archive)

The article erred: “About 750,000 Palestinians were expelled — some of whom fled to Jordan — during what Arabs refer to as the 1948 Nakba, or ‘catastrophe,’ when Israel was created.” (Emphasis added.)
The vast majority of Palestinian Arabs refugees fled in 1948— often at the urging of their own leadership which promised return following the eradication of the nascent Jewish state — and were not expelled. Significantly, the “catastrophe” was the outcome of multiple neighboring Arab states invading the emerging Jewish state, launching a failed war of annihilation alongside the Palestinian Arab population.
The Los Angeles Times itself routinely provides accurate reporting on the fact that  the estimated 700,000 Palestinian Arab 1948 refugees include those who fled or were expelled. Most recently, an Associated Press article republished in the Times Feb. 20 said of the 1948 war: “During that war, 700,000 Palestinians fled or were forced from their homes in what is now Israel.”
Media outlets which previously corrected the identical error falsely stating that all of the 1948 refugees were expelled include Agence France Presse, Reuters (in Arabic), and The Guardian.
CAMERA contacted The Los Angeles Times to request correction in print and online, making clear that of some 700,000 Palestinian Arab refugees from 1948, most fled and a minority were expelled. Stay tuned for any updates.
Separately, The Los Angeles Times outrageously has yet to correct the blatant Feb. 16 falsehood echoing Hamas propaganda that of the remaining hostages still in the Gaza Strip, “Most of the more than 70 still being held are male soldiers. . . ” In fact, the vast majority — 60 out of 73 — were civilians. (Similarly, after the release of 10 additional civilian hostages, civilians still comprise the overwhelming majority of remaining hostages. As of this writing, there are 63 hostages still in the Gaza Strip, including 50 civilians, 12 soldiers and one policeman.)

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