Isn’t presenting a well-documented fact as “fake news” just more fake news?
By: United with Israel Staff
In a recently published article in the New York Times’ Technology section, journalist Nellie Bowles characterized the well-documented fact that the Palestinian Authority (PA) pays hundreds of millions of dollars to the families of terrorists as a “far-right conspiracy.”
In a piece that ironically includes the phrase “fake news” in its title, Bowles herself presents fact as fake news.
Specifically, she uses as her example of a “far-right conspiracy” the fact that “Palestinians pay $400 million [in] pensions [to] terrorist families.”
Responding to this outrageous lie, the Jerusalem Post‘s Lahav Harkov pointed out in a tweet that Palestinian terror payments are “written in to the Palestinian Authority’s budget, not a ‘far-right conspiracy.'”
The Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting in America (CAMERA), a media watchdog, noted that it follows that Bowles must consider her own paper part of the vast “far-right conspiracy,” as The Times has repeatedly reported the fact that the PA pays the families of terrorists.
On May 2, 2017, for example, a Times article titled “G.O.P. Pressures Trump to Take Tough Stance With Mahmoud Abbas,” confirms that not even the Palestinian officials try to deny that their government is providing the families of suicide bombers with funding.
“The issue of payments to families of suicide bombers and others who commit violence has become a frequent complaint by Israel and its supporters. The Palestinian Authority spends about $315 million a year to distribute cash and benefits to 36,000 families, according to Sander Gerber, a New York hedge fund executive and fellow at the Jerusalem Center Public Affairs, who has studied the issue and brought his research to American lawmakers,” the article states.
“Palestinian leaders defend the payments, saying they are meant to help widows and orphans of “martyrs,” as they call suicide bombers and others killed in attacks, as well as destitute families of prisoners, not to promote terrorism,” the article adds.
Several NY Times articles, as far back as 2006, also admit that this heinous Palestinian policy is a fact.
While CAMERA contacted Times editors to request a correction, at press time it had yet to receive a response, nor had Bowles responded to any comments on her Twitter feed addressing her error.
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