How The New York Times Constructs False Narratives: From Nazi Germany to Gaza’s “Starving” Boy
My research based on Ashley Rindsberg’s book The Gray Lady Winked and an analysis of historical and contemporary cases.
The Concept of the False Media Narrative
American journalist Ashley Rindsberg avoids the term “fake news”, preferring a more precise definition — “false media narrative.”
This isn’t a one-time journalistic error but a systemic construction, where:
“Facts, storylines, and ideas are selected and framed to serve a particular ideological or political goal.”
The key distinction from an ordinary mistake lies in its networked nature: multiple journalists, editors, and publication formats amplify the same thesis repeatedly until it becomes resistant to refutation.
It’s the old “rotten herring” technique.
Hitler wrote in Mein Kampf:
“Most people are more corrupt in small matters than in great ones. They lie in small things but would be too ashamed to resort to a big lie. Therefore, they cannot believe others could have the impudence to distort the truth so grossly…”
1930s–1940s: When the NYT Covered for the Nazis
📅 1930s
During the rise of Nazism, The New York Times published pieces downplaying anti-Jewish pogroms in Germany, portrayed the 1936 Berlin Olympics positively, and even echoed Nazi propaganda at the start of WWII:
NYT, September 2, 1939: “Hitler gives word” — the headline appeared on the front page, while Hitler’s speech was printed alongside it. Hitler’s proclamation to the army, which stated Germany was under attack and vowed to respond with force. This proclamation was issued just as Germany invaded Poland, marking the start of World War II. The article also reported on the proclamation’s content, including Germany’s accusation that Warsaw had appealed to arms and its warning to foreigners to leave Poland at their own risk
2000s: Myths of the Second Palestinian Intifada
1. Ariel Sharon as the “Trigger”
📅 September 30, 2000
On the same day, The New York Times ran three articles and an editorial, claiming Ariel Sharon’s visit to the Temple Mount “sparked the intifada.”
NYT: “His visit set off a wave of violence that could have been prevented.”
Fact: Palestinian leader Marwan Barghouti later admitted (Al-Hayat, 2001) that the intifada had been planned in advance.
2. The Tuvia Grossman Photo
The photo showed an Israeli policeman with a baton standing next to a bloodied boy. The caption read:
“An Israeli policeman and a Palestinian youth on the Temple Mount.”
The visual message was clear — the Israeli as aggressor, the boy as victim.
Reality: the boy was Tuvia Grossman, a Jewish-American student whom the policeman was protecting from a lynch mob of Palestinians.
The photo was taken at a gas station, not on the Temple Mount.
Fact: there are no gas stations on the Temple Mount (Google Earth, 2000). The photo was cropped to hide the gas station sign — a classic propaganda technique.
These weren’t random mistakes but the product of ideological blindness: journalists reinforced a ready-made narrative where Israel is the aggressor and Palestinians the victims.
3. The Case of Muhammad al-Durrah
📅 September 30, 2000
Another case: the story of 12-year-old Muhammad al-Durrah, allegedly shot dead by Israeli soldiers. The footage went global, becoming a symbol of “Israeli cruelty.”
Fact: later investigations showed the footage was staged, and the circumstances of the boy’s death remain disputed.
In 2013, a French court ruled the video did not prove Israeli responsibility. Yet, The New York Times continued referring to it as fact.
For the NYT, the “Palestinian victim vs. Israeli aggressor” narrative was too ideologically perfect to abandon. Reporters such as the infamous Judith Miller helped entrench the myth through repetition and embellishment.
2019: The Antisemitic Cartoon
📅 April 2019
In its international edition, The New York Times published a cartoon depicting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as a dog on a leash held by Donald Trump.
NYT: “We regret the publication of this antisemitic cartoon. It was offensive and an error.” (NYT, April 29, 2019)
After the backlash, the paper stopped running editorial cartoons in its international edition. But, as we now know — it didn’t stop publishing “starving boys.”
2025: The “Starving” Boy Who Suffers from Muscular Dystrophy
📅 July 2025
NYT published a photo of 18-month-old Muhammad Zakariya al-Mutawaki, presenting him as a victim of famine in Gaza.
NYT: “He suffers from severe malnutrition.” (original publication)
Fact: The watchdog group HonestReporting noticed an inconsistency — another healthy child appeared in the background, undermining the “starvation” claim. Later, CNN confirmed with the boy’s mother that he was not starving, but rather suffered from a muscular disease requiring special nutrition and therapy.
Once again, a powerful image replaced reality, weaponizing emotion to perpetuate a modern-day blood libel.
An “inspiring Palestinian” and “theater director”
Anything but a terrorist, according to the NYT. But no, he is a terrorist. They also admire his escape from prison.
📅 August 2025
Zakaria Zubeidi — He is considered a symbol of the Intifada and was on Israel’s most-wanted list for several years. In an interview in 2005 he assumed responsibility for the 2002 Beit She’an attack that killed six people. He pledged to put away his weapons as part of an Israeli amnesty in 2007, though he never gave his guns up in the sense of relinquishing them to the authorities. But in NYT:
False equivalence on human shields
📅 October 2024 — In the midst of the war in Gaza, they are running a disinformation campaign.
NYT know that Hamas uses people as human shields, but they need to equate it with Israel.
Replete with a headline designed to tarnish Israel’s entire military, The New York Times this week published an investigation alleging that IDF soldiers were using Gazans as human shields during operations in the Gaza Strip.
Yet when it comes to New York Times coverage of and investigations into the IDF, it’s impossible to ignore the Gray Lady’s wider agenda that continuously seeks to delegitimize Israeli self-defense against the terrorists who are currently attacking it from multiple fronts.
Tunnels. Here they went even further.
NYT started defending Hamas’s tactic of hiding in tunnels under Hospitals, where, by their own (Hamas) admission, they don’t allow civilians. But they took an even bolder step — they somehow managed to blame Israel for that too.
Additional Protocol I (1977) — Article 13
Protection of medical units
The protection to which medical units are entitled shall not cease unless they are used to commit, outside their humanitarian function, acts harmful to the enemy.
Hostages and terrorists.
The most terrible thing is that even after the war stops — in the case of the hostages — they still manage to openly sympathize with the terrorists.
📅 October 2025
Mass murderers
But even that’s not enough for them — they go further and add to the narrative: another false equivalence between the hostages and the terrorists serving 11 life sentences for mass murder.
The Problem of Systemic Impunity in Journalism
False media narratives persist because journalism lacks institutional accountability.
“Media are the foundation of democracy and civil society, yet they face no professional regulation comparable to medicine or law. That must change. We need clearer moral and ethical standards in journalism — and real consequences for violations.”
If we fail to recognize and deconstruct false narratives, they will continue to rewrite history and shape nations’ destinies.
Who Are These Journalists?
Sociological data reveal that American journalists are overwhelmingly left-leaning:
In 2022, only 3.4% identified as Republicans, 36% as Democrats, and 52% as independents.
Conclusion
In my view, the Fairness Doctrine must be reinstated — it was abolished in 1987, but it required presenting both sides of controversial issues. In essence, it upheld the core standards of journalism.
Want a broadcasting license? Adhere to standards. Don’t want to? Then you shouldn’t have one.
Journalism wields immense influence — it carries the same moral responsibility as medicine.
A surgeon who repeatedly infects his patients through negligence loses his license. Why should journalism be any different?
Reagan’s repeal of the doctrine — citing the First Amendment — was his greatest mistake. Ironically, those now chanting “Jews to the gas chambers” also invoke the First Amendment, while neither Chinese communists parading through Manhattan nor Arab regimes grant such freedoms at home.
They see it both as a bug and an opportunity — to advance their ideas. I’m not saying it’s evil; I’m saying it’s dangerous. Hello, Al Jazeera.
And one more thing: ask today’s free speech absolutists about Ben-Gvir — and see what they say.
#NYT #CNN #BBC #media #News #FakeNews
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If you wrap a fish in the NYT you've poisoned the fish.