In May 2026, Israeli media reported on a COGAT (Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories) survey which demonstrated that nearly 80% of Gazans were interested in emigrating out of the Gaza strip. On Sep. 2, 2026, Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz raised this statistic when he spoke at the “Decision Time: Democracy and Society” conference on Sep. 2, 2026, co-hosted by Ynet. He spoke of Israel’s willingness to facilitate such emigration in any way it could. NPR took the opportunity to edit out critical portions of his remarks, which thereby omitted context and made it sound like Israel was planning to embark on an ethnic cleansing campaign.
On Sep. 3, 2026, Carrie Kahn reported on NPR that “Defense Minister Israel Katz said Israel will facilitate mass migration out of Gaza by ‘any means.’ Critics say forced Palestinian migration constitutes ethnic cleansing.” NPR’s Windsor Johnston introduced the segment by saying, “the Defense Minister is again calling for Palestinians to leave the territory.” It was clear Kahn’s report was then adapted by editors into a post on NPR’s website entitled “Israeli officials say they have no plans to retreat from Gaza.”
There is little chance NPR was unaware of the Defense Minister’s full remarks. The reporter edited his statement to remove all relevant and important context. By adding immediately thereafter that critics call forced migration ethnic cleansing, NPR twisted Katz’ words into something nefarious and misled its audience.
Israeli media outlet Ynet – a cohost of the conference where the minister made the remarks – reported what Katz actually said about Gazans emigrating:
There is no real solution for Gaza in the end. The Migration Directorate is ready to do this by sea, by air and by any means. Egypt is not willing for it to go through its territory.
Eighty percent [of Gazans] want to emigrate. We are constantly checking this in surveys. Hamas does not allow it and there are no countries in the world willing to take them in. What is delaying this is that the countries willing to take them in want US support.
It is clear from Katz’s comments that he was talking about facilitating the migration of those who want to emigrate from Gaza. And that Israel would facilitate that “by any means” – a far cry from the way NPR attempted to spin it as ethnic cleansing.
On Sep. 4, 2026, CAMERA contacted NPR to seek a correction.