The notoriously anti-Israel New York Times published an apology on Monday for blaming Israel for the explosion at a Gazan hospital last week that was subsequently proven by multiple sources, including US defense officials, to have been the result of a failed rocket launch by the Palestinian Islamic Jihad terror group. The pathetic apology refers to “Hamas government officials” – lending legitimacy to a band of savage terrorists who beheaded babies and carried out mass rapes and murders – and refers to another band of barbarous terrorists – the Palestinian Islamic Jihad terror group – as a “Palestinian faction group.” It also calls the members of the group “fighters” rather than “terrorists” – a term that even the BBC has finally agreed to use regarding Hamas. It should be noted that both terror groups are on the official US State Department’s list of Designated Foreign Terrorist Organizations. In response to the apology, Israel’s Special Envoy for Combatting Antisemitism Michal Cotler-Wunsh wrote: “The New York Times published ‘facts’ from Hamas genocidal terrorists who days before perpetrated atrocities in an assault on humanity. Murder, rape, burning alive, abduction…& published on front page of a ‘newspaper’.” “Sorry doesn’t cut it.” Read the apology below: On Oct. 17, The New York Times published news of an explosion at a hospital in Gaza City, leading its coverage with claims by Hamas government officials that an Israeli airstrike was the cause and that hundreds of people were dead or injured. The report included a large headline at the top of The Times’s website. Israel subsequently denied being at fault and blamed an errant rocket launch by the Palestinian faction group Islamic Jihad, which has in turn denied responsibility. American and other international officials have said their evidence indicates that the rocket came from Palestinian fighter positions. The Times’s initial accounts attributed the claim of Israeli responsibility to Palestinian officials, and noted that the Israeli military said it was investigating the blast. However, the early versions of the coverage — and the prominence it received in a headline, news alert and social media channels — relied too heavily on claims by Hamas, and did not make clear that those claims could not immediately be verified. The report left readers with an incorrect impression about what was known and how credible the account was. The Times continued to update its coverage as more information became available, reporting the disputed claims of responsibility and noting that the death toll might be lower than initially reported. Within two hours, the headline and other text at the top of the website reflected the scope of the explosion and the dispute over responsibility. Given the sensitive nature of the news during a widening conflict, and the prominent promotion it received, Times editors should have taken more care with the initial presentation, and been more explicit about what information could be verified. Newsroom leaders continue to examine procedures around the biggest breaking news events — including for the use of the largest headlines in the digital report — to determine what additional safeguards may be warranted.” In addition to its lack of ethical journalistic standards evident in its reporting on the explosion, the New York Times recently rehired Gazan-based journalist Soliman Hijjy, a videographer who was let go in the past due to […]