The New York Times has cut ties with a Palestinian freelancer based in the Gaza Strip. The move came after a media watchdog shone a very public light on his antisemitism and social media declarations including calls for anti-Jewish violence and “burning them like Hitler did.”
On Thursday, media observer Honest Reporting published social media posts attributed to Fady Hanona, who as a freelance stringer had at least six articles published by the Times during the latest flareup of violence in Gaza, the Times of Israel reports.
The pieces in the Times detailed the fighting between Israel and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad terror group, and a ceasefire reached after three days. It was not clear whether Hanona contributed through writing or other tasks, as per the Times of Israel coverage.
Hanona’s since-deleted social media posts allegedly included support for terror groups and members and support for killing Jews.
Now his working relationship with the newspaper has ended, almost three years to the day after a Breitbart News investigation exposed a New York Times political editor who had a years-long history of antisemitic and racist comments on his Twitter page.
Previous to that, the newspaper’s international edition ran with a cartoon with “anti-Semitic tropes” that portrayed a blind President Donald Trump led by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu depicted as a dog with a Star of David collar around its neck.
As Breitbart News reported, on that occasion the cartoon appeared April 25 and coincided with the end of the Passover holiday and Shabbat, two days many observant Jews were not online.
The cartoon (see below) was quickly criticized by several social media users. No apology was forthcoming.
Now the newspaper has yet again been found again to be providing a sounding board for antisemitism, but in the latest instance has moved quickly to end the controversy.
“The New York Times had worked with this freelance reporter only in recent weeks. We are no longer doing so,” a spokesperson told the NY Post on Monday.
Hanona has now deleted his social media accounts and could not be reached by the Post.
In screenshots of the alleged social media activity, Hanona encouraged anti-Jewish violence, saying he supported “the culture of fighting and killing Israelis.”
“I don’t accept a Jew, Israeli or Zionist, or anyone else who speaks Hebrew. I’m with killing them wherever they are: children, elderly people, and soldiers,” Hanona wrote, according to the watchdog.
The freelancer also allegedly wrote “Jews are sons of the dogs … I am in favor of killing them and burning them like Hitler did. I will be so happy.”
Hanona also appeared to have worked with the BBC, Vice and the UK Guardian newspaper, according to the NY Post report.