NYT tells journalists covering Israel’s war to avoid words ‘genocide,’ ‘ethnic cleansing’ and ‘occupied territory’: Report

It has been revealed by an online American investigation publication that the New York Times has instructed reporters and journalists covering Israel’s genocidal war against the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip to restrict the use of the terms “genocide” and “ethnic cleansing” and to “avoid” using the phrase “occupied territory” for the Palestinian lands occupied by Israel.

The Intercept obtained a copy of a New York Times internal memo that also instructs reporters not to use the word Palestine “except in very rare cases.”

The memo — written by Times standards editor Susan Wessling, international editor Philip Pan, and their deputies — also asks journalists to steer clear of the term “refugee camps” to describe areas of Gaza historically settled by displaced Palestinians expelled from other parts of Palestine during previous Israeli–Arab wars.

The United Nations recognizes these areas as refugee camps that house hundreds of thousands of registered refugees.

The memo “offers guidance about some terms and other issues we have grappled with since the start of the conflict in October.”

Several Times staffers told The Intercept that the memo proves the paper follows Israeli narratives.

“It’s the kind of thing that looks professional and logical if you have no knowledge of the historical context of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict,” said a Times newsroom source, who requested anonymity for fear of reprisal, of the Gaza memo.

“But if you do know, it will be clear how apologetic it is to Israel,” the source added.

The Intercept writes that the memo presents an internal window into the thoughts of Times international editors.

The memo was first distributed to Times journalists in November.  It has been regularly since then.

The regime began the genocidal campaign in Gaza on October 7, 2023, after the Palestinian resistance movement Hamas carried out Operation Al-Aqsa Storm against the usurping entity in retaliation for its intensified atrocities against the Palestinian people.

Israel has killed at least 33,800 people in Gaza, mostly women and children, since.

The Save the Children organization is deeply alarmed by the toll and suffering being exacted on children in the Gaza Strip.

According to the charity, more than 14,500 of Gaza’s 1.1 million children have been killed. And thousands more are missing, presumed buried under the rubble, their deaths unmarked.

Israel keeps ‘unlawful’ restrictions on Gaza aid in place, UN warns

The occupying regime has blocked water, food, and electricity to Gaza.

The life-saving aid that families rely on has either been drip-fed or denied by Israeli authorities – while essential services have been decimated by ongoing Israeli hostilities.

The Global Education Cluster estimates that as of March 30, 87.7% of all school buildings in Gaza have been damaged or destroyed.

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