NY Times Watch: Israeli Violations Cease to Exist cc @Sulliview

After the truce that came into effect between Israel and groups in Gaza brokered by Egypt last November, we began to keep a list of Israeli ceasefire violations. In the past, Israel has broken cease-fire agreements while the media, particularly Western media, adopted an inverted narrative that blamed Palestinians for breaking the ceasefire. This is very important because it serves as justification for Israeli actions in the Western world obsessed with Israel's "self-defense."

The list we are keeping, as you can see, is quite long. Yet, if you read the New York Times article on the matter today, you'd never know of this context. Here is how Isabel Kershner covered the most recent exchange (emphasis mine):

In response to rockets fired from Gaza into southern Israel, apparently in support of the Palestinian prisoners, the Israeli military said it carried out an airstrike in Gaza late Tuesday night, its first since a ceasefire that ended eight days of fierce cross-border fighting in November. Warplanes struck two open areas in northern Gaza, causing no damage or casualties.  

Sami Abu Zuhri, a spokesman for Hamas, the Islamic militant group that controls Gaza, called the airstrikes a clear violation of the ceasefire. “We call on international parties to intervene immediately to end the Israeli escalation and also the violations against the prisoners,” he said in a statement.  

The rocket fire from Gaza was the third such violation of a ceasefire brokered by Egypt in November, evidence of its fragility.

Did you catch that? Yes, this has been the first Israeli air strike into Gaza since the truce but certainly not the first violation as our list clearly demonstrates. Israeli Naval fire, infantry fire and artillery have all been used in violation of the ceasefire before. Yet, the context provided by the reporter on fire from Gaza makes it seem like groups in Gaza are the more frequent violators of the truce. To make it worse, the reporter suggests the three projectiles from Gaza in four months are evidence of the fragility of the ceasefire.

In fact, "Israel has violated the ceasefire several times by firing on fishermen and farmers," according to this same newspaper.

So if three projectiles from Gaza in four months are evidence of the ceasefire's fragility, what is the long list of Israeli ceasefire violations evidence of? Well, two things. Israeli impunity and, in the case of this article today, poor journalism.

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