President Biden reportedly slammed a New York Times report that blamed Israel for an explosion near a hospital in the Gaza Strip and inflated the death toll.
Shortly after the incident on October 17, The Times ran a headline claiming Israeli responsibility for the attack to a Hamas official in the Gaza Strip and putting the death toll at 500.
Israel denied any involvement in the explosion, but subsequent analysis by independent investigators determined that it was the result of a rocket fired by Islamic Jihad terrorists from within the Gaza Strip. The death toll from the explosion near the Al Ahli Arab Hospital is estimated at fewer than 50.
According to the news site Semaphore, President Biden told Wall Street executives gathered at the White House last week that the Times headline could have contributed to escalating conflict in the region.
A summit with Arab leaders was called off after Biden flew to Israel. Semaphore reported that Biden was particularly upset that the headline had been published in an “American newspaper.”
The Washington Post has reached out to the Times and the White House for comment.
Semaphore said Biden’s criticism was part of the president’s long-held hostility toward the “Grey Lady.”
President Biden reportedly slammed a New York Times report last week about an explosion near a hospital in the Gaza Strip. The Washington Post via Getty Images
He is reportedly still hurt by The Times’ reporting on his 2020 presidential campaign, in which the paper questioned his chances of beating Donald Trump.
Biden reportedly declined an interview request from a Times reporter, instead accepting a meeting with the paper’s opinion columnists who were perceived as sympathetic to the Biden administration, Semaphore reported.
Semaphore said Biden’s meetings with Wall Street executives were an opportunity to politically reconnect with supporters who had been alienated by the administration’s crackdown on antitrust laws and tougher securities regulation.
The New York Times initially emphasized Hamas’ claim that Israel was responsible for the hospital explosion, then changed its headline after questions arose about the cause of the blast.
Wall Street heavyweights have been supporting Israel since the Oct. 7 massacre in which Hamas terrorists killed more than 1,400 Israelis, including 200 more held hostage.
Hedge fund billionaires Bill Ackman and Ken Griffin have denounced a Harvard student group that circulated a letter blaming Israel for Hamas atrocities.
Apollo CEO Marc Rowan criticized administrators at his Ivy League alma mater, the University of Pennsylvania, for failing to clearly condemn Hamas immediately after the Oct. 7 massacre.
Last week, Vanity Fair reported that a senior editor at The Times had pushed back against a junior staffer who had encouraged the paper to “tone down” an initial headline that exaggerated Hamas’ claims about the hospital explosion.
Shortly after the hospital explosion on October 17, The Times website ran a lead headline that read, “Israeli Attack Kills Hundreds at Hospital, Palestinians Say.”
Evidence analysed after the explosion suggests that it was a Palestinian rocket fire that caused the devastation at Al Ahli hospital on October 17. AFP, via Getty Images
The Times also ran a subheading that read, “At Least 500 Killed in Gaza Attack as Biden Prepares to Visit Israel.”
Hamas has not presented any evidence to support its claim that it was an Israeli missile fired at the hospital.
In a rare editor’s note, the Times acknowledged that it should have been more careful in its original reporting.
Western intelligence agencies have also disputed the Hamas death toll, and Biden himself has questioned the accuracy of casualty figures released by Gaza authorities.
Last Monday, The Times acknowledged that it had “relied too heavily on Hamas’ claims and failed to make clear that their claims could not be readily verified.”
In a rare editor’s note, The Times wrote that “Israeli responsibility lies with the Palestinian Authority and the Israeli military says it is investigating the explosion.”
Subsequent investigations and analysis of the explosion site and the resulting crater appear to support Israel’s claim that it was a Palestinian rocket fire gone wrong that triggered the tragic chain of events.
The governments of the United States, Canada and France have publicly absolved Israel of responsibility for the deaths at Al-Ahli Arab Hospital.