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Jonathan Dorfman's avatar

Excellent piece--and you can never be reminded enough about Walter Duranty. Here's somethine Matti Friedman wrote years ago in the Tablet about the corruption among those who cover Hamas: https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/israel-middle-east/articles/israel-insider-guide. I suppose one difference between Duranty and these reporters is that no one ever put a gun to Duranty's head.

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Chris Rauber's avatar

The charge that major newspapers had stringers who had advance warning of Hamas' terror attack on Oct. 7 is unproven. Unless you have proof, you shouldn't repeat it in your essays. I agree with you that much media coverage has been bad, uncritical, and ahistoric. But the charge that they knew in advance of the attack is far too serious to advance without ironclad proof, in my opinion.

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Andrew Bore's avatar

They knew far enough in advance to accompany Hamas on the attack.

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Chris Rauber's avatar

That is not proven. If you have proof, please share. I have seen no evidence that any journalists accompanied Hamas or knew about the attack. In fact, all accounts I've seen say Hamas kept even its allies in the dark. Spreading rumors about such things doesn't help Israel's cause or anyone else's.

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