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) IPC Cooks the Famine Books
The “UN-backed” Integrated Food Security Phase Classification network (IPC) declared that there was a famine in Gaza. This understandably set off a media firestorm (see, e.g., CAMERA’s responses to NPR and BBC). Few subjects would seem as newsworthy; the very word “famine” powerfully evokes images of mass suffering throughout history. That the claim was made by a “UN-backed” body gives, for many media consumers, an appearance of credibility.
But there’s a reason educators warn students against the logical fallacy of “appeals to authority.” Authorities are only as reliable as the evidence they rely on. As it turns out, a closer examination of the IPC’s report reveals serious and demonstrable methodological problems.
Many researchers and organizations have already expertly detailed these problems (see CAMERA’s Tamar Sternthal, the Network Contagion Research Institute, Mark Zlochin, Salo Aizenberg, the Israeli Ministry of Diaspora Affairs, and COGAT) and so a full analysis is unnecessary here. The gist is that the IPC engaged in basic data malpractice and manipulation, suppressed contradictory evidence, relied on extraordinary and unsupported assumptions, and laundered partisan sources. Unearthed evidence also casts serious doubt on the objectivity of some of the “experts” behind the IPC’s report (e.g., Andrew Seal and Zeina Jamaluddine).
¹ The biggest problem with the Gaza City bogus “famine” designation isn’t that IPC used MUAC or the 15% threshold.
The real scandal is that Gaza City’s malnutrition rate in July never actually crossed 15%.
This is huge – yet it’s barely being talked about.
— Mark Zlochin – מארק זלוצ’ין༝ (@MarkZlochin) August 23, 2025
Put simply, it appears that the IPC “cooked the books.”
Journalists are meant to hold to account those in power. Yet it appears few journalists are interested in covering the credible allegations of data manipulation by a “UN-backed” body despite the significance of the consequences. Most outlets simply ignored the allegations. Others, such as CNN, “avoid[ed] steelmanning the arguments of critics of the IPC famine determination, thus failing to address the IPC’s most egregious flaws,” in the words of CAMERA-UK’s Adam Levick.
One can effectively raise awareness and advocate for the plight of Gazan civilians caught in a humanitarian crisis without degrading the meaning of “famine.” The manipulation and politicization of the concept of “famine” is far from harmless. It serves only to erode the credibility of institutions and cheapen the meaning and the seriousness of the plight faced by those who truly suffer from famine, drawing resources away from where they are most needed.
2) Wikipedia Under Investigation
Wikipedia is, for better or for worse, a frequent stop for many denizens of the Internet seeking to learn new information, receiving hundreds of millions of page views every day. Unfortunately, there are growing reasons to believe it is all “for worse.”
On August 27, the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform sent a letter to the Wikimedia Foundation, owner of Wikipedia, informing it of an investigation into “foreign operations and individuals at academic institutions” involved in organized and systematic efforts to manipulate information. Their goal: “to advance antisemitic and anti-Israel information in Wikipedia articles” as well as “pro-Kremlin and anti-Western messaging.”
The investigation did not come out of nowhere. In April, a bipartisan group of 23 members of Congress wrote a separate letter expressing concern over the abuse of Wikipedia by “coordinated actors” promoting “an antisemitic, pro-Hamas, anti-Zionist, and anti-Israel agenda.”
Several researchers have expertly documented these organized efforts, including Aaron Bandler and Ashley Rindsberg. The Anti-Defamation League, too, has documented the deeply rooted problems at Wikipedia, resulting in the manipulation and suppression of information.
Despite the significance of this story – the deliberate manipulation of one of the world’s most important sources of information – coverage was largely absent from major media networks and newspapers. Only USA Today covered the story, along with a handful of smaller outlets like Jerusalem Post, JNS, and the New York Sun).
3) A Palestinian “Hero” Shares Her Thoughts on Jews
Ahed Tamimi is one of the most recognizable Palestinian “activists.” Videos of her as a child confronting Israeli soldiers have spread far and wide over the years. Western outlets like CNN have described her as “a hero” and a “fearless teen…taking a stand against militarism and colonialism.” Reuters similarly describes her as “a hero to Palestinians” who has “campaigned against land seizures…” The “heroic activist” label for Tamimi appears across numerous other media profiles of the blond-haired and fair-skinned Palestinian girl.
Ahed Tamimi. Courtesy: Wikimedia Commons
But for Israelis, who have long referred to Tamimi by the humorous nickname “Shirley Temper,” news of her latest remarks will be of no surprise. “We are fighting the Jews, not Zionism,” Tamimi declared on a podcast on August 8. “The whole world needs to shut up when a Palestinian is talking,” she continued. “We are superior to the entire world.”
This isn’t a sudden turn for Tamimi, who is known for other such remarks as “we will slaughter you and you will say that what Hitler did to you was a joke” and “we will drink your blood and eat your skull.”
Beyond Jewish and Israeli media, only the Free Beacon covered the prominent activist’s latest tirade, leaving the audiences of outlets like CNN and Reuters with a continuing false impression of Palestinian “hero” Ahed Tamimi.
Historical Context for Current Events
On August 25, Israeli tanks shelled the roof of a building at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, reportedly targeting a Hamas camera following Israeli troop movements. While Israel is investigating the incident, it is becoming apparent that both Hamas operatives and journalists were killed in the strike.
The incident recalls another episode from May 15, 2021, amidst another war between Israel and Hamas (Operation Guardian of the Walls), when the Israel Defense Forces struck al-Jalaa Tower. The building was also being used by both journalists (Associated Press) and Hamas. The terrorist organization was using the tower to build and develop electronic warfare technology aimed at undermining Israel’s missile defense systems (see JINSA, p.21).
Despite the absence of casualties (Israel gave the occupants advance warning of the impending strike), organizations like the Committee to Protect Journalists and Amnesty International portrayed the strike as a “war crime.” These allegations, however, would be challenged by experts on the law of armed conflict (see, e.g., Michael N. Schmitt and Aurel Sari).