After Downplaying Attacks by Palestinian Women, New York Times Corrects

CAMERA’s Israel office prompts correction of a New York Times article which had downplayed the geographical scope as well as the success of terror attacks perpetrated by Palestinian women. In her Dec. 1 article (“Young Palestinian Women Join the West Bank Turmoil“), Times correspondent Diaa Hadid erred:

But close to the second anniversary of her brother’s death, Hadeel picked up a pair of scissors and with her cousin Nourhan, 16, walked calmly to a Jerusalem market.The three teenagers are among the 15 women who have tried, or are accused of trying,to stab Israeli soldiers or civilians in the West Bank since an uprising began in October.(Emphasis added)

As CAMERA pointed out to Times editors, Palestinian women’s attacks on soldiers and civilians also took place in Jerusalem. They are not limited to the West Bank. Hadid had incompletely referred to women “who have tried, or are accused of trying, to stab Israeli soldiers or civilians in the West Bank.” (Emphasis added.)

Indeed, the very attack that Hadid highlights in the preceding paragraph – Hadeel and Nourhan carried out their Nov. 23 attack in Jerusalem’s Mahane Yehuda market – underscores the fact that Palestinian women’s violence is not only confined to the West Bank. For instance, on Oct. 12, a Palestinian 16-year-old stabbed a border policeman in Jerusalem, in the Ammunition Hill area.
 
Likewise, on Oct. 7, an 18-year-old Palestinian woman stabbed a 36-year-old Jewish man at Lion’s Gate in Jerusalem’s Old City.
 
On the same note, the headline – “Young Palestinian Women Join the West Bank Turmoil” – is also incomplete and misleading, given that Palestinian women are also carrying out attacks in Jerusalem.
 
 
Furthermore, contrary to Hadid’s report, some of these woman not only “tried” to stab Israeli soldiers or civilians. (Again, she writes: “The three teenagers are among the 15 women who have tried, or are accused of trying, to stab Israeli soldiers or civilians . . . “) Some have also succeeded.
 
About the Oct. 12 attack, in which the assailant succeeded in stabbing a border policeman, The New York Times’ Isabel Kershner had reported:

Hours later, a Palestinian teenager from East Jerusalem stabbed a police office near the national Police Headquarters, and the officer shot and wounded her. (Emphases added.)

Likewise, about the Oct. 7 attack in which the Palestinian female perpetrator managed to stab her victim, Kershner accurately reported:

In the Old City of Jerusalem on Wednesday morning, a young Palestinian woman stabbed and slightly wounded an Israeli man, who then shot her with a personal weapon, severely wounding her, the police said. (Emphasis added.)

On Nov. 8, a female 16-year-old Palestinian stabbed a civilian security guard in Beitar Illit, lightly wounding him.
 
On Oct. 17, another 16-year-old Palestinian female stabbed a female soldiers in Hebron, lightly wounding her. About that attack, Isabel Kershner wrote:

In another, a young Palestinian woman asked a female border police officer for directions, according to the officer’s account, then tried to stab her, lightly wounding her.

In response to CAMERA’s correspondence, editors have amended the online article. It now accurately reports that the 15 women carried out attacks in Jerusalem, not only the West Bank, and in some instances succeeded in stabbing their victims:

15 young women who have stabbed, tried to stab or, the Israeli authorities say, intended to stab Israeli soldiers or civilians in the West Bank and Jerusalem since an uprising began in October. (Emphasis added.)

In addition, editors have commendably appended this thorough and straightforward correction to the bottom of the online article:
 
 
The correction has yet to appear in the print edition. Stay tuned for an update.
 
For additional New York Times corrections prompted by CAMERA, please see here.
 
Dec. 8 Update: Correction in the Print Edition
 
A correction appears today in the print edition.

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