You know, by now, that the Western Islamo-socialist alliance committed a blood libel against Israel when its respective members repeatedly published an image of Mohammed Al-Matouq, a desperately emaciated child, and asserted that the child was a victim of an Israel-caused famine. In fact, as was apparent from the child’s well-fed mother and brother, who appeared in several related images, Mohammed is not starving. Instead, he suffers from congenital diseases.

One of the largest outlets to promulgate this lie was the New York Times. Last week, it splashed a huge picture of Al-Matouq across the front page of the paper, identifying him as being “diagnosed with severe malnutrition.” Under the image is the bolded, 20-point font headline: “Young, Old and Sick Starve to Death in Gaza: ‘There Is Nothing.’”

Image: Fair use republication for editorial commentary purposes.

The point, obviously, was to create maximum dramatic effect. Israel is guilty of genocide by subjecting children to the slow horrors of starvation. Funnily enough, the paper that once employed the Soviet shill, Walter Duranty, wasn’t as fussed about the Holodomor, when Stalin systematically starved millions of Kulak farmers to death.

And speaking of the Holodomor, The Times assumed, no doubt correctly, that its readers wouldn’t notice that the child’s mother was not starving. Of course, if there really were a famine in Gaza, the image should have reminded readers of a saying from the Holodomor: “An orphan is a child whose parents died before they could eat it.” This image comes from the Holodomor:

Public domain.

In any event, there can be no doubt that the New York Times was aware of (or deliberately chose to ignore) the larger context of Mohammed’s existence...such as his well-fed little brother.

Let me just start with other images the media chose not to use. Photographs of Mohammed with his 3-year-old brother Joud. Both mother and brother are healthy and fed.

Any honest journalist should have immediately questioned – and reported - what we were actually seeing. 3/13 pic.twitter.com/FaUsVFsqb2

— David Collier (@mishtal) July 27, 2025

Of course, as is always the case, the truth eventually came out. Little Mohammed is a very sick child; he is not a starving child. Israel did nothing evil.

And here’s something ironic: The story’s original byline is out of Haifa, in Israel. (The current version adds Jerusalem, also in Israel, as well as London, or, as I call it, Londonistan. A stringer added video from within Gaza.) Yup, most journalists can’t even be in Gaza, because Hamas makes it too dangerous. So, they sit safely in Israel, hurling blood libels against it.

But the facts aren’t the issue. The issue is the propaganda value of the image.

Caught with its pants down, the New York Times updated the online article and issued a grudging apology. Immediately under the video of Mohammed, the description claiming that Mohammed has malnutrition has vanished. The article’s text, nevertheless, still claims that he “was diagnosed with severe malnutrition.”

If you scroll all the way to the bottom of the essay, this note is now appended:

Editors’ Note: July 29, 2025

This article has been updated to include information about Mohammed Zakaria al-Mutawaq, a child in Gaza suffering from severe malnutrition. After publication of the article, The Times learned from his doctor that Mohammed also had pre-existing health problems.

Well, that’s something. However, the real lie sneaks in somewhere else.

If you’re familiar with X, you know that the Times has all sorts of different accounts: There’s the main account (55.1M followers), as well as New York Times Books (5.3M followers), New York Times Arts (2.5M followers), New York Times World (2.4M followers), New York Times Travel (1.1M followers), New York Times Travel (775K followers), etc.

Way, way, way down in the basement of New York Times X accounts is New York Times Communications, the outlet’s PR account, with 89K followers.

So, here’s what the Times did: Instead of using its main (55.1M followers) to correct a grotesque and dangerous blood libel against Israel, it used its Communications account (89K followers) to delicately whisper its correction:

We have appended an Editors' Note to a story about Mohammed Zakaria al-Mutawaq, a child in Gaza who was diagnosed with severe malnutrition. After publication, The Times learned that he also had pre-existing health problems. Read more below. pic.twitter.com/KGxP3b3Q2B

— NYTimes Communications (@NYTimesPR) July 29, 2025

There’s an oft-repeated saying that a lie can travel halfway around the world before the truth gets its pants on. In the internet age, the lie travels multiple times around the world at the speed of light, and the truth dies in the darkness because the lie’s purveyors ensure that the truth never even sees the light.

I’ll add one more thing. Hen Mazzig sums up the world’s silence about the atrocities everywhere but Gaza:

You’re “anti-genocide” — but you say nothing as Syrian jihadists massacre the Druze.

You’re “anti-starvation” — but you’re silent as the Houthis starve Yemenis.

You’re “anti-ethnic cleansing” — but you ignore what China is doing to the Uyghurs.

You’re “anti-apartheid” — but…

— Hen Mazzig (@HenMazzig) July 19, 2025

When you contrast the world’s silence about all of these horrors with the worldwide effort to demonize the only Jewish state—which is also the only combatant in world history to feed and provide medical care for its enemies—I can reach only one conclusion: The issue is never about who’s actually dying. Instead, the issue is finding ways to justify a future Jewish genocide.

Thankfully, Israel is contemplating fighting back. The suit alone would help bring attention to the indecency behind that horrible lie:

???? Breaking — Senior Israeli analyst @bardugojacob: Israel ???????? may sue New York Times for $10 BILLION for the blood libel it spread, including personal lawsuits against the journalists who wrote those articles.
_ pic.twitter.com/u63XC9Ezoj

— Dr. Eli David (@DrEliDavid) July 30, 2025

Image: New York Times building (edited) by Ajay Suresh. CC BY 2.0.