Jonathan Tobin at Commentary has done a typically excellent job at unpacking the latest Jodi Rudoren “Hamas press release“, about Ahmed Jamal Abu Raida, a teenage boy who claims to have been used by a human shield by the IDF. As Tobin notes, the fact that Rudoren wrote, and the New York Times printed, the story without any independent corroboration — even the kind of thing that could be easily fabricated, such as photos showing the boy’s injuries — speaks volumes about the depth of Rudoren’s incompetence as a journalist and the Times’s bias.
One thing, however, that struck me about Rudoren’s piece, was her credulous repetition of the information that the boy’s father, Jamal Abu Raida, “held a senior position in Gaza’s Tourism Ministry.” Rudoren’s inability to extrapolate from this that her informant is the son of a Hamas operative had me wondering, what exactly, Rudoren thinks that Gaza’s Tourism Ministry might do.
Perhaps it prints glossy brochures with photos of colorful local personalities.
Or entices travelers to see the Gaza sites.
Or promotes Gaza’s hotels.
Or perhaps it assists tourists in making travel arrangements?
Previously on Israellycool: Club Med Gaza
