In a July 29 article by Adam Rasgon, “Israel Strikes Mosque in Gaza City,” The New York Times reported on an Israeli strike on a Gaza City mosque that the Israel military (IDF) said was used to store weapons.
In addition to continuing its tradition of referring to Hamas terrorists as “militants,” The Times wrote, “Israel has repeatedly accused Hamas of embedding in civilian spaces, including in mosques, displacement camps and schools.” The question for the paper of record is why it continues to refer to this demonstrably proven civilian shield strategy as an Israeli accusation, when the paper itself has reported that Hamas embeds in civilian areas?
In a July 2014 Times article entitled “Israel Says That Hamas Uses Civilian Shields, Reviving Debate,” the authors confirmed Hamas rocket launches from crowded neighborhoods near apartments, schools and hotels, and weapons in mosques. They acknowledged, “[I]t is indisputable that Gaza militants operate in civilian areas, draw return fire to civilian structures, and on some level benefit in the diplomatic arena from the rising casualties.” They also quoted Nathan Thrall, who co-authored a report at the time on Gaza, for the proposition that “Hamas deliberately buries [its] weapons in populated civilian areas.” Finally, the authors pointed out how days earlier the United Nations found rockets in two of its Gaza schools.
More than a decade later, a September 2024 Times article entitled “Unwilling to be Human Shields, Some Gazans Turn Gunmen Away from Shelters,” reported firsthand accounts of how some civilians sheltering in a school turned away Hamas members who wanted to station themselves there.
While perhaps The Times could not yet verify Israel’s specific claim as to this particular mosque, there has been no shortage of proof – both from Israel and Hamas itself – of Hamas’s use of mosques for military purpose. Hamas has placed snipers atop mosques, directed recruits to come to a mosque, and the IDF has successfully targeted groups of Hamas terrorists at command-and-control centers in mosques.
The Amit Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center has documented Hamas’ use of civilian infrastructure, and as it notes, “The use of civilian institutions and facilities for terrorist purposes is not new and has long been a deliberate strategy of Hamas and the other terrorist organizations . . .” As to hospitals, the IDF has released videos of Hamas infrastructure under Gaza hospitals.
The IDF and Shin Bet security agency release new footage showing part of Hamas’s tunnel network underneath Gaza City’s Shifa Hospital, where the terror group is believed to have a main command center.
Clips are published from two separate devices that were lowered into a tunnel… pic.twitter.com/vJFXmI4Sl8
— Emanuel (Mannie) Fabian (@manniefabian) November 19, 2023
Instead of acknowledging an inability to determine – at least so far – the credibility of Israel’s claim regarding the Gaza City mosque Rasgon reported on, The Times applied the “accusation” framing to a systemic pattern – one that its own archives have repeatedly validated.
The New York Times doesn’t need any more proof. It knows, by virtue of its previous reporting, that Hamas embeds weapons and personnel in the civilian population. It should report this as fact.
Why then, is it still qualified generally as an Israeli accusation?
