Over the past two weeks, the State of Israel has been waging a battle against the New York Times in failing to “accurately reflect the nature and scope" of the Goldstone Report. Investigative journalist David Bedein reports that there have been many recent exchanges between the newspaper's journalists and editors and Israel Foreign Ministry representatives. This past Thursday, the Israeli delegation in the UN sent an official complaint to the newspaper's editorial board. Signed by the Israel UN delegation's spokeswoman, Mirit Cohen, the letter says that the Times uses “subjective and often damning” language about Israel, and has failed to give the story fair and accurate coverage. The complaint also states: "Again and again we encounter distorted phraseology that is liable to cause the innocent reader to think that the report found definitive proof that Israel committed war crimes in Gaza. [The Goldstone] report is flawed from the outset, [and] gives legitimacy to a terror organization that fires missiles at innocent civilians. The New York Times's bias in ignoring this reality requires reexamination.” The New York Times has yet to respond to the Israeli government's unprecedented attack on it. The Israeli mission’s letter to the Times states: “Over and over, The New York Times’ articles on this matter employ language that easily leads the reader to believe that the Goldstone Report found conclusive evidence that Israel committed war crimes. In Neil MacFarquhar’s ‘U.N. Council Endorses Gaza Report’ (Oct. 16), the article states that the Goldstone Report ‘details evidence of war crimes committed by the Israeli Army…’ In Sharon Otterman’s ‘Gaza Report Author Asks U.S. to Clarify Concerns’ (Oct. 22), the Goldstone Report is described as having “found evidence of war crimes committed by Israel…” The letter provides a third similar example as well, and then states, “In stark contrast, a Reuters article carried by The New York Times on Oct. 14, ‘Israel Urged to Investigate Gaza War Crimes Charges,’ describes the Goldstone Report as reflecting ‘U.N. allegations of possible war crimes.’” “In sharp contrast, the aforementioned Times articles fail to reflect this vital distinction, as readers will falsely assume that the Goldstone Report found conclusive evidence of Israeli war crimes.” Cohen concludes, “I wish to reiterate Israel’s position that the Goldstone Report is deeply flawed and one-sided as it offers legitimacy to Hamas terrorism and its deliberate strategy to launch attacks, store weapons and use as shields the civilian population and infrastructure of Gaza. At the same time, [it] wrongly condemned Israel’s legitimate exercise of its right to self-defense. The tendency of The New York Times to gloss over such realities must be rectified and I sincerely hope that the paper will use accurate and appropriate language to ensure that its coverage of the Goldstone Report and the wide Middle East is fair and honest.”
