Hamas is winning the propaganda war against Israel. And it’s picked up an important ally in The New York Times, supposedly America’s newspaper of record.

The New York Times has repeatedly supported Hamas propaganda with misleading stories. Here are three egregious examples.

First, on Oct. 17, 2023, the Times ran a story headlined “Israeli Strike Kills Hundreds in Hospital, Palestinians Say.” Hamas’ claim, validated by the Times, triggered protests in Lebanon, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Egypt, Tunisia and the West Bank. Jordan’s King Abdullah canceled a summit meeting with President Joe Biden and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el Sisi. Saudi Arabia, which had been moving closer to recognizing Israel’s right to exist, now condemned the country.

Six days later, the paper published a nonapology apology acknowledging the paper “should have taken more care with the initial presentation, and been more explicit about what information could be verified.” Physical evidence strongly indicated the missile was fired by Gazan forces, but the damage was already done.

Second, less than two years later, the Times ran a front-page photo of a Gazan mother holding a starving infant,. The mother said he’d been “healthy” before suffering from malnutrition. It turns out the child suffered from cerebral palsy, a genetic disorder that drastically affected his development. The Times also cropped out his healthy-looking brother from the photo. The Times editors issued another nonapology apology reporting it had “updated our story to add context about (Mohammed’s) pre-existing health problems.” And again, that admission was too late to do much about the global outrage.

Third, on May 11 of this year, the Times published an opinion piece by Nicholas Kristof headlined, “The Silence That Meets the Rape of Palestinians.” Kristof asserted, “Palestinians have recounted to me a pattern of widespread Israeli sexual violence against men, women and even children.” He admits, “There is no evidence that Israeli leaders order rapes.” However, he then goes on to write, “Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor, a Geneva-based advocacy group often critical of Israel, concludes that Israel employs ‘systematic sexual violence’ that is ‘widely practiced as part of an organized state policy.'” He also cited reports that the Israelis had taught dogs to rape prisoners.

It can come as no surprise that Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor is headed by Ramy Abdu, who has longstanding ties to Hamas. In 2025 he wrote that Israel deserves “a million October 7ths.”

In the 2009 documentary “Reporter,” Kristof himself said: “I’ve learned that victims of human rights abuses lie and exaggerate as much as perpetrators do. It’s very easy if you’re passionate and outraged to listen to victims and not double-check and triple-check and listen to the other side.” In this case, Kristof forgot his own lesson.

Multitudes of others agreed with the 2009 Kristof if not the 2026 version. Sitting federal judge Roy K. Altman wrote: “Kristof’s article… disregards basic rules of evidence gathering; it refuses to investigate the opposing side’s views; and it ignores logic and common sense.” Former U.S. Special Envoy Deborah Lipstadt asked, “Have they – the NY Times – no sense of decency and journalistic responsibility?”

It cannot be a coincidence the Times ran the Kristof piece the day before the Civil Commission, an independent Israeli women’s rights group, released “Silenced No More.” This 298-page report was based on testimonies, photos and videos documenting the sexual violence committed by Hamas during its Oct. 7, 2023, attack. Endorsed by former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton among others, the report found, “Victims endured brutal acts, including burning, mutilation, rape, restraining, forced insertion of objects into the genitalia, shootings to the faces and genital area, killings and abuses in front of family members, and executions.”

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu blusters he is about to sue Kristof and the Times in a case that has no chance of being heard under American law. (Better he should request an investigation by the Israeli judiciary.)

As Ian Fleming’s villain Auric Goldfinger said to James Bond: “Once is happenstance. Twice is coincidence. Three times is enemy action.”

The word for what the Times is publishing is not news. It is propaganda.