Nolte: Far-Left New York Times Excuses Its Debunked Anti-Israel Graphic as ‘Art’

Earlier this week the far-left, antisemitic New York Times published an anti-Israel opinion piece illustrated with a long-debunked graphic that smears Israel as some kind of monstrous occupier booting “Palestinians” off their land.

This meme, which is meant to illustrate Israel’s land grab over time, was first launched on social media and was quickly debunked more than five years ago by Shany Mor in his detailed piece titled “The Mendacious Maps of Palestinian ‘Loss.’” This YouTube video also devastates the meme.

Here’s an example of the fake and defamatory meme:

Now click on the New York Times piece, where you will see that the antisemitic fake news outlet essentially reproduced this lie to substantiate the lies published in the editorial.

And now, in response to the uproar over its fake graphic, the Times is attempting to justify publishing a flagrantly dishonest piece of anti-Israel propaganda as “art.”

Patrick Healy, the Times’ deputy opinion editor, released a statement claiming, “This image was used as art atop an opinion essay by a Palestinian writer.” He goes on to admit the artwork was not meant to be accurate. “This artwork is not meant to represent any historical boundaries and it is not meant to serve as a literal, factual map … this was an illustration conveying a sense of shrinking space for Palestinians. It is art.”

As Mor accurately points out, though, if the Times’ illustration “was just a shrinking blot on a map. That might be just art making a political point. But this is an exact copy of well known agitprop, and, most importantly, verifiably false. That shouldn’t sneak by an editor.”

Mor’s point above is critical. Are we honestly supposed to believe it’s merely a coincidence that a lie was reproduced almost exactly by the Times and it’s all accident because the motive was simply to create an illustration?

Only an idiot would believe such a thing.

Mor also takes issue with the editorial itself, which is filled with falsehoods and antisemitic tropes. “The claim in the article about ‘the ethnic cleansing of Palestine in 1948 when more than 75 percent of the Palestinian population was expelled from their homes to make way for Jewish immigrants’ should never have made it past the fact-checkers the first time around.”

No kidding, but Mor is giving the disgraced Times more credit than the sleazy outfit deserves. Nothing snuck past anyone at the Times, nothing snuck past the editors or the fact checkers. The goal in publishing the lies, including the graphic, was to smear Israel, which is something the Times has a long and troubling history of.

But the Times is supposed to set “the standard” for journalism, so I guess “it’s art” is now a valid excuse to spread deliberate misinformation, to mislead your own gullible readers, and to spreading more hatred against Jews, who — thanks in large part to the establishment media — are already under attack in Israel and in Democrat-run cities.

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