Times of Israel Removes Article Calling For Palestine to Be ‘Obliterated’
Nasser Ishtayeh/SOPA Images/Sipa USA via AP Images
The Times of Israel removed an article which called for Palestine to be “obliterated” this week after the piece received backlash on social media.
The article, titled “Moving Forward on Palestine” by Jeffrey Camras, was published on the Times of Israel‘s blog on Thursday and soon received a wave of criticism.
“In order to right a wrong, in order to make peace and move forward, Palestine must be obliterated,” Camras wrote in the piece. “It is an afront to society, morality, humanity. It represents lies and antisemitism, oppression and terror. Nothing more.”
“No one cares about the Palestinians,” he continued, arguing that care for the wellbeing of Palestinians “solely exists in the form of Anti-Israel advocacy, NOT Pro-Palestinian support.”
The article went on to argue that Palestinians needed “to be reeducated” and that Israel should “not be weak” with its “enemies,” before concluding, “Citizens of Israel and Am Yisrael, stop being afraid! Stop waiting for approval from America and the West. Know yourself and walk with Hashem.”
After the article received heavy criticism on social media, as well as in the Times of Israel‘s comments section, it was removed by the newspaper, with the link currently displaying a 404 error page. A preserved form of the article can still be read through online archive websites.
https://twitter.com/snarkademic/status/1659625308876619777
Articles on the Times of Israel‘s blog are published with the disclaimer that content is “contributed by third parties” and that “the opinions, facts and any media content in them are presented solely by the authors.”
“Neither The Times of Israel nor its partners assume any responsibility for them,” the disclaimer states. “Please contact us in case of abuse.”
The Times of Israel has previously received backlash over articles published in its blog section, which appears to have little editorial oversight.
In 2014, the newspaper published a blog post titled “When Genocide is Permissable,” which questioned, “What other way then is there to deal with an enemy of this nature other than obliterate them completely?” Following backlash, the article was removed and its author issued an apology.
A year later, in 2015, the Times of Israel found itself embroiled in yet another controversy after it published a blog post calling Palestinians “worthless subhuman beasts and vermin” who were “not even human beings and thus have no right to even live at all.” Again, following backlash, the article was removed and the newspaper blamed a “malicious hoaxer” for writing the “hateful and racist post.”
