The screenshots prove it: New York Times altered headline to remove words “Israeli-occupied”

Ali Abunimah Media Watch 12 January 2013

Cached image of New York Times story before headline was changed to omit words “Israeli-occupied West Bank.”

A New York Times headline accidentally told the truth today about Israel’s occupation of Palestinian land, before it was ‘fixed.’

The story is about today’s action by Palestinians to establish a village called Bab Al Shams on land that Israel has seized for construction of Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank.

The original headline read “Palestinians Set Up Camp in Israeli-Occupied West Bank Territory.” Later, the headline was altered to remove the words “Israeli-occupied.” It now reads “Palestinians Set Up Tents Where Israel Plans Homes.”

The website Newsdiffs.org shows that the original headline was posted at 1:09 PM EST. It was discovered to have been changed at 7:10 PM EST.

A key goal of Israeli propaganda is to eliminate the term “occupied” from media coverage of Israel’s, well, occupation. Many media have adopted terms like “disputed” that grant false legitimacy to Israeli claims to the land which are totally null and void in international law.

The Times article still describes the area as “hotly contested piece of Israeli-occupied West Bank territory known as E1.” And yes, I’ve taken a screenshot in case they decide to change that too.

How the headline appears after the change.

Thanks to Twitter user @JamieSW for spotting.

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Comments

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Said Hamideh replied on

It's good to remind newcomers to the conflict of this problem. For us who have been reading for years, there is nothing new to report here.

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DavidS replied on

Read the subheading:
"Palestinians erected tents in the contested piece of Israeli-occupied West Bank territory known as E1 on Friday.". What's the big deal - everyone could make a mistake or reorganise text. Don't blame the paper - it's usually a single person. Have you never made a mistake at your job? I know people who sent an email around corporations with thousands of employees saying horrible things about their bosses :) or imagine you are a CEO and by mistake distribute a new about jobs cuttings!

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Syarif Hidayat replied on

The New York Times, as one of the leading members of the Western Media Circus, of course prefers LIES than the TRUTH!

THE WESTERN MEDIA CIRCUS DOUBLE STANDARDS POLICY:

The Western mainstream media circus apply a policy of controlled news reporting on their domestic problems and at the same time they apply the lies and biased news reporting on international affairs especially on Islam, the Muslim World, the Middle East Conflict and international terrorism.

The western Media circus' biased news reporting are terrorizing people with unbalanced news and lies that create fear and xenophobia. Terror is the most dreaded weapon in modern age and the Western media is mercilessly using it against its own people. It can add fear and helplessness in the psyche of the people of Europe and the United States. It means that what the enemies of the United States cannot do, its media is doing that.

The Zionist-controlled Western Media circus‘ biased news reporting on the Muslim World, the Middle East conflict and international terrorism create fear and xenophobia. This situation leads to more xenophobia including Islamophobia in the US and the other Western Countries that influence not only the general public but also the government officials in the individual western countries.

These media circus members that include electronic (TV Stations and Radios) and print media are the most powerful Hate Propaganda Machines Against Islam and the Muslim world!

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Robert Trump replied on

I thought Palestine and "israel" were two adjacent Middle Eastern countries. I thought they were as bad as each other for squabbling over their border. Then I found out that "israel" had invaded Palestine, killed people and tried to wipe Palestine off the map.

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Alfred in Germany replied on

The process of wiping Palestine off the map is continuing. When Obama complains, his complaints are just words that are never followed by actions. This method of land theft is standard procedure for Israel. They know that they have the entire western political establishment in a completely subservient paralysis. Whenever it is opportune, the Zionist regime pushes its borders outward and mocks the worlds protests, knowing that these noises eventually fall silent.

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Philippa replied on

From my experience in news organisations, this is someone being overruled by a colleague on a later shift (even fundamentally zionist outfits are not monolithic in their thinking). It's rather good news to see that there is at least one person at the New York Times who is prepared to call a spade a spade

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Michael replied on

Why don't they just have a big picture of all the US government kissing the backsides of the zionist governmnt, after all, that's the real truth is it not. And while they are at it, they can take the newspaper editors wiht them.......

Ali Abunimah

Co-founder of The Electronic Intifada and author of The Battle for Justice in Palestine, now out from Haymarket Books.

Also wrote One Country: A Bold-Proposal to End the Israeli-Palestinian Impasse. Opinions are mine alone.