Friedman: “The New York Times Lied, The World Is Turning Against Israel”

Former U.S. Ambassador to Israel David Friedman launched a scathing critique of The New York Times on Sunday, accusing the newspaper of spreading misinformation and harboring a consistent bias against Israel. 

Posting on his X account, Friedman condemned the publication for featuring an image of an emaciated Palestinian child, presented as evidence of alleged Israeli-induced famine in Gaza. However, it later emerged that the child suffers from a genetic disorder, and his healthy sibling was intentionally cropped out of the photo. 

Friedman claims the Times acknowledged the error only quietly, using a little-seen secondary account. “With all their resources in Gaza, this was their best evidence of Israeli-induced malnutrition and it was false,” he wrote.

Friedman contrasted the coverage of that image with what he sees as a near-total silence from major American media on the plight of Israeli hostages held by Hamas. 

He cited recent footage of Evyatar David and Rom Braslavski, captured since Oct 7, 2023, appearing visibly starved and psychologically broken. 

“These images are authentic,” he said, noting their absence from outlets like The New York Times. The former ambassador argued that such selective reporting contributes to a broader wave of political hostility toward Israel, pointing to recent moves by Democratic senators to freeze U.S. aid and diplomatic recognitions of a Palestinian state by several Western countries. 

Friedman concluded by warning against what he called a bipartisan moral failure, blaming both “the woke left and the woke right” for abandoning Israel in a time of crisis.