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Jennifer's avatar

Where is the reporting from the 100 international journalists who were recently shown, by the Israeli government, horrific Hamas video of their atrocities? Will the NYT report on that? If so, I will only hear about it here...cancelled my subscription decades ago.

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Celia M Paddock's avatar

To me, the most interesting thing about that video screening was the photos of the faces as they watched.

Some seemed genuinely horrified.

Others looked very uncomfortable that their Hamas heroes had showed themselves in such a bad light.

A few had the most stone-cold looks on their faces: they clearly were not upset about the inhumanity of what they were seeing.

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Jennifer's avatar

I had similar thoughts about the one image of the audience I saw; but we must be careful in drawing conclusions from facial expressions. Those stone-cold and uncomfortable faces could reflect minds confronted with the destruction of long-cherished viewpoints. Stephen Spender wrote about this, reflecting on the Spanish Civil War: "When I saw photographs of children murdered by the Fascists I felt furious pity. When the supporters of Franco talked of Red atrocities, I merely felt indignant that people should tell such lies. In the first case I saw corpses; in the second only words...I gradually acquired a certain horror of the way in which my own mind worked."

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Celia M Paddock's avatar

As someone who was bullied throughout childhood, I am hypersensitive to facial expressions, as a matter of personal safety.

Considering that these are still photographs, not video of the audience, it's possible to misinterpret, based on the moment when the photo was taken.

But I still found it disturbing.

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Jennifer's avatar

I will try to look at more images of the reporters as they watched. Stoicism in the face of such scenes is pretty f-ing unfathomable...but then, the unfathomable is in our history books and before our very eyes.

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Chana Goanna's avatar

That was a smart move by Israel. IтАЩve seen some of the raw footage, and itтАЩs impossible to watch it without being nauseated--and terrified that we live in a world where so-called people could perpetrate such outrageous savagery on other human beings.

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QX's avatar

I don't know if it's so smart to not allow reporters to show the footages. They're losing the media war right now,

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Daniel Lefkowitz's avatar

I am equally traumatized by the response in the main stream media, college campuses and the pro-Hamas rallies.

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Jennifer's avatar

Smart move, yes. One can only hope that the Deafening Silence from certain quarters will permanently alter some thinking (or rather lack thereof) at long last. We need people to get it through their brains that beheading videos are viewed with pride in some quarters and are promulgated for a purpose.

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Daniel Lefkowitz's avatar

Can't verify but allegedly BBC, NYT and al-jazeera didnt go.

https://twitter.com/FrumTikTok/status/1716456772330766487

Anyone know if this is true?

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Michelle Styles's avatar

The NY Post has done an article on it. https://nypost.com/2023/10/23/news/idf-shares-harrowing-videos-photos-of-hamas-attack/ The Telegraph in London has done an article: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2023/10/23/dispatch-idf-shows-unseen-footage-of-hamas-atrocities/ I know Unherd will be doing something as their reporter was the one of te first to do a thread on it. But you are right -- crickets from the NYT.

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Michelle Styles's avatar

Yes it is. Even more so when you have the BBC doing this sort of thing on Newsnight. I believe they didn't even bother to show up to the screening... https://twitter.com/addicted2newz/status/1716954814356345119

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S L's avatar

When WaPo, LA Times, and most importantly, MSNBC do a proper report on it, then it will have made an impact.

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Jennifer's avatar

The NYT does have an article online; but it's behind a paywall.

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S L's avatar

I have a subscription. It was not easy to find the article. After describing the footage in a far less graphic way than others, the report says "The military showed the compilation to foreign reporters on a day when Israel continued to bombard Gaza with heavy airstrikes oveernight and as the death toll in Gaza surpassed 5000, according to the Hamas-run health ministry. "

Later they get to the gruesome details... if readers are still interested after reading about the Gaza death toll.

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Jennifer's avatar

Incorrigible and unrepentant! Thank you. I should have known that the Hamas health ministry claim would be sandwiched in.

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Jennifer's avatar

Great account; thank you Michelle.

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Maggie's avatar

The NYT is still trying to "verify" the information. Obviously.

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MG's avatar

Are they still trying to verify Hunter's laptop?

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Maggie's avatar

My sources tell me that the NYT has assigned no fewer than one dozen Women's Studies Majors to the matter.

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