New York Times - biased?!

America's "Newspaper of Record", the New York Times, has small summaries of several articles on the front page, beneath the fold. An entry today (9/12/05) in the paper version is titled "Israel Withdraws From Gaza". It reads:

After Israeli troops began an overnight evacuation of the Gaza Strip, Palestinians rushed into the former settlements and shot off fireworks in celebration.

Sounds innocent enough. The paper version mentions no burning of synagogues, nor the mayhem that ensued. Clearly, from the "teaser" on the front page quoted above, the paper is sugarcoating events. Here's the Jerusulem Post version:

Gunmen from several Palestinian factions stormed through the settlement. One group planted a flag from the ruling Fatah movement on the roof of the yeshiva, while others set a fire inside.

Flames also shot skyward from the synagogue building in the isolated settlement of Morag in southern Gaza.

"They [Israelis] destroyed our homes and our mosques," said a man who gave his name only as Abu Ahmed. "Today it is our turn to destroy theirs."

Surely the Palestinian authorities took control?

Palestinian policemen stood by and watched, admitting they were outnumbered by the crowds and had little motivation to stop them. An officer who refused to give his name said, "The people have the right to do what they are doing."

"The Palestinians failed in their first task when they did not protect the synagogues left standing in the settlements of Gush Katif," Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom said on Monday. "The arson of this morning is a barbaric act of people with no respect for holy places," he continued.

Rambix does not believe the New York Times was not knowledgeable of these facts. Why would they choose not to report them in the paper version? It can be explained by institutional bias against Israel, and for the Palestinians.

Here's the New York Times online version of the story as of the time of this posting:

NEVE DEKALIM, Gaza Strip, Sept. 12 - Throughout the abandoned Israeli settlements of Gaza, Monday was a carnival of celebration, political grandstanding and widespread scavenging for a Palestinian population whose occupiers vanished overnight, as the Israeli Army pulled its last soldier out of Gaza at 6:50 a.m.

Now it's a "carnival of celebration" and "scavenging".

Behind him, a settlement synagogue built in the shape of a huge Star of David was smoldering, fires inside sending smoke through the edges of the star. Atop the building, in the dim smoky moment before dawn, one could see a huge green flag of Hamas, with a smaller Palestinian flag flying below it.

A few minutes later, a large black flag of Islamic Jihad was flying just under the Hamas flag, above the Palestinian one.

Five minutes later, the Palestinian flag had been taken down altogether.

Yes, let's give them a state.

More analysis on Powerline here.