Famously, the slogan “All the News That’s Fit to Print” graces the front page of every New York Times edition. The slogan was coined at the end of the 19th century by the paper’s publisher, Adolph Ochs. Of course, in today’s hyper-globalized world, the slogan is wishful thinking. No paper could realistically cover all the important news stories of the day.
Still, it would be hard to argue that outlets like the New York Times, the Washington Post, CNN, and others adequately cover even those stories they do print. They often devote precious space to emotive or opinionated claims, while omitting highly material and relevant information that sheds important new light.
Provided below are three important, but underreported, stories from the week bearing on Israel and the Middle East that media consumers should know.
1) Scholars Reject the “Genocide” Libel
Last week, major media outlets claimed that the “world’s leading genocide scholars” said Israel was committing a genocide. As it turned out, the claim was highly misleading. It was based on a resolution adopted by only 108 members of the 500 member “International Association of Genocide Scholars” (IAGS). Omitted, however, was that IAGS is not an expert organization; its membership was open to the public and filled with decidedly unscholarly characters.
This week, there is a new statement circulating which rejects the IAGS resolution. Whereas the authors and supporters of the IAGS resolution remained anonymous, the over 500 signatories of the new statement are publicly listed. The signatories include professors of Holocaust and Genocide studies, Holocaust educators, former federal judges and prosecutors (including of Nazi criminals), and top scholars and practitioners in fields such as history, law, and a range of other fields.
Whereas many major Western news outlets rushed to cover the IAGS resolution, none have covered the new statement rejecting IAGS’s conclusions.
Disclosure: The author is a signatory on the statement.
2) UK and France Hear Nothing, See Nothing, Say Nothing as the Palestinian Authority Rewards Terrorism
On Monday, two Palestinian terrorists boarded a bus in Jerusalem and opened fire on civilians. Six were murdered and 21 were wounded. As a result, the families of the two terrorists – both of whom were shot and killed during the attack – will receive a financial windfall from the Palestinian Authority (PA). This is the consequence of the PA’s ongoing “pay-to-slay” policy, designed to financially reward terrorists and their families for the murder of Jews. Under the policy, the higher the death toll, the higher the reward.
As the carnage was unfolding in Jerusalem, the man in charge of the pay-to-slay policy – Mahmoud Abbas – was in London. In addition to praising British Prime Minister Keir Starmer for his decision to recognize the “State of Palestine,” Abbas was also claiming that the PA had made “internal reforms, changing the payment system for families of prisoners and shaheeds.” In other words, Abbas was trying to convince Starmer that the pay-to-slay system no longer incentivized Palestinian terrorism.
This was, of course, a deception, and it isn’t the first time Abbas tried to fool the world. The PA has repeatedly promised reforms while instead simply masking the payments. Often, this has meant simply changing, on paper only, the source of the money. Other tactics include giving released terrorists “jobs” with PA ministries.
This time around, as Yossi Kupperwasser at the Jerusalem Institute for Strategy and Security explained, Abbas is using ambiguous wording. Whereas before the reward amount depended on the length of the prison sentence (thereby giving a greater reward to worse crimes), now the size of the reward will depend on “principles of justice.” What does that mean? Only Abbas knows.
Starmer wasn’t the only one Abbas was fooling, however. France, which has also said it will recognize a “State of Palestine,” made its recognition conditional on PA “reforms.” But in the words of the Wall Street Journal editorial board, France appears willing to accept “a mere fig leaf” in this regard. On September 3, French Minister Jean-Noel Barrot declared, in no uncertain terms, that the “pay for slay [policy] has ended on August 1.” The French minister’s claim is contradicted, however, even by Palestinian media.
“The pay for slay has ended on August 1…”
Meanwhile, the pay-for-slay program:
(https://t.co/nh7zkWUtnM) pic.twitter.com/LNCSzCkmcN
— David Litman (@dmlitman) September 3, 2025
Among Western media outlets, only the New York Sun and the Free Beacon covered this angle of the Jerusalem terror attack.
3) Hamas Resists Disarmament…in Lebanon
Last week, CAMERA covered Hezbollah’s threat to wage war against Lebanon rather than disarm. But Hezbollah is not the only terrorist organization refusing to give up its weapons in Lebanon. UN Security Council resolution 1701 required all armed actors other than the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF) to be disarmed. Also included are the heavily armed Palestinian factions based in Lebanon’s “refugee” camps.
To its credit, Mahmoud Abbas’s Fatah has begun complying with the Lebanese government and started handing over its weapons. The other Palestinian factions have not been as cooperative. On Wednesday, it was reported that Hamas insisted it will not disarm in Lebanon until a “comprehensive solution to the Palestinian issue is reached.” That is, Hamas is refusing to abide by the authority of its Lebanese hosts until it has destroyed the Jewish state.
Over the past week, no major Western media outlet has covered the refusal by Hamas and other Palestinian terror organizations to disarm in Lebanon.
Historical Context for Current Events
As world leaders rush to condemn Israel for its targeted strike on Hamas’s leadership in Qatar, it’s worth remembering another time world leaders rushed to condemn an Israeli operation abroad.
On May 11, 1960, Israel carried out Operation Finale, capturing Nazi war criminal Adolf Eichmann who had been hiding in Argentina. Eichmann would subsequently be tried and executed in Israel for his crimes.
A month after his capture, the United Nations Security Council would vote to demand Israel “make appropriate reparation” with Argentina, notwithstanding the latter had knowingly provided safe haven to thousands of Nazis following the defeat of the Third Reich. Despite being built on the ashes of the Holocaust, the UN never adopted any criticism of Argentina for knowingly hosting the perpetrators of the genocide.
In 1960, as in 2025, rather than seek justice for the Jewish people, the “international community” preferred to condemn them for exacting justice for themselves.