‘Shameful’ New York Times refuses to publish photos of starved hostages, says Israeli FM

Israel’s foreign minister excoriates foreign media outlets, including The New York Times and Washington Post, which prominently featured photographs of Gazans allegedly starving while refusing to publish photographs of emaciated Israeli hostages.

By World Israel News Staff

Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar (New Hope) castigated foreign media outlets on Monday, accusing them of refusing to publish photographs of starving Israeli hostages held in Gaza while pushing Hamas claims of a famine in the Gaza Strip.

Sa’ar addressed reporters at a press conference at the Israeli Foreign Ministry headquarters in Jerusalem, blasting the “well-orchestrated propaganda campaign” conducted by Hamas and other Gaza terror groups to rally international opinion against Israel, accusing Israel of causing a famine in the Gaza Strip.

“These organizations also planned the ‘starvation campaign’ of lies together. The amount of aid entering proves that is a fake propaganda campaign,” Sa’ar said, rejecting claims pushed by the Hamas-run Gaza health ministry of widespread starvation in Gaza.

Media outlets around the world, Sa’ar continued, have parroted Hamas’ claims while failing to publish photographs of emaciated Israeli hostages displaying clear signs of starvation in captivity.

“This past weekend, Hamas and Islamic Jihad cruelly released horrifying videos of our hostages Evyatar David and Rom Braslavski. The world witnessed their terrible condition: starved, tortured. Evyatar was forced to dig his own grave. The world saw the thick arm of the well-fed terrorist next to the starved and tortured Evyatar.”

Sa’ar named The New York Times and The Washington Post in his criticism of news coverage on the conflict, calling out their failure to publish photographs of Braslavski and David while publishing images of Gazans allegedly suffering from starvation.

“The unbalanced and twisted anti-Israel agenda of a huge part of the international media has once again been exposed. Just as there is no acknowledgement of ignore Israel’s humanitarian efforts in the Gaza Strip, and Israel is doing a lot, the horrible images of the hostages were painfully missing from the front pages of The New York Times, The Washington Post, and most of the global media. It is shameful.”

During the press conference, Sa’ar announced plans to fly to New York later on Monday for a special United Nations Security Council session called by the United States and Panama to address the Gaza hostage crisis.

Sa’ar also ripped French President Emmanuel Macron days after video footage was published showing him equating Israeli hostages in Gaza with jailed Arab terrorists.

“The international hypocrisy must be exposed. Certain countries and leaders try to create a symmetry between both sides — between hostages and murderers. But this is a distortion. There is no symmetry here,” Sa’ar said.

“You heard what the president of France said: ‘Hostages on both sides.’”

Israel’s top diplomat excoriated France, Britain, and Canada over their plans to recognize unilateral Palestinian statehood next month, calling the move a “pure prize for terror. A huge gift for Hamas.”

Evyatar DavidGideon SaarIsraeli captives in GazaMedia BiasRom Braslavski