On Saturday November 16, nearly 100 trucks carrying aid into Gaza were violently set upon by armed Arab gangs. According to Reuters, Louise Wateridge, UNRWA’s Senior Emergency Officer would not say who carried out the ambush. Reuters added that “An Israeli official said Israel had been working to address the humanitarian situation since the start of its war against Hamas, adding that the main problem with aid deliveries was U.N. distribution challenges.”

Tor Wennesland, the Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process – no friend of Israel – was more explicit in his remarks to the United Nations Security Council on November 18 when he specifically called out “organized armed Palestinians” as the culprit in stealing humanitarian aid.

The New York Times would have none of it. It blamed the looting of aid on Israel.

The Times alternatively called the militants “looters” and “attackers” without giving any description as to who committed the attack. It even tried to use passive language that the aid “was looted” to avoid placing blame on local Gazans.

Later in the article the Times said that “it was not clear who was responsible for the looting,” but the surrounding text made it very clear: Israel was responsible, even if it didn’t commit the looting.

The Times blamed Israel for “restrict[ing] a huge amount of the humanitarian response” in which the “woefully inadequate food supplies have led to looting.” Israel is to blame because of “the collapse of law and order… and the policies of Israeli authorities.” Further, Israel placed aid workers at risk from “attackers” who steal the much needed assistance from “desperate Palestinians.”

Israel has long complained that aid trucks are being looted by Palestinian militant groups and not making it to civilians. When the charge became abundantly clear to the entire world, the Times reoriented the story that Israel remains at fault. Such is the anti-Israel animus in the media today.

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