Pallywood is the Palestinian industry of creating fake images, events and stories to demonize Israel. It is a critical part of the worldwide, decades-long propaganda campaign against Israel. Pallywood is not done only by Palestinians. In fact, some of the most egregious perpetrators are Western anti-Israel leftists who create and spread false or distorted stories about Israel.
The NY Times just got Pallywooded.
Anti-Israel activists, the identities of whom are not currently known, created a fake Supplement Edition of the Times with fake stories meant to pursue anti-Israel narratives.
It was extremely professionally done, with multiple articles and fake advertisements. A reported 10,000 copies were handed out in New York City, including outside Times headquaters. That must have cost quite a bit.
This level of sophistication and expense makes it unlikely to have been done by your typical college groups, like Students for Justice in Palestine, who normally just disrupt and shout down Israeli speakers, or who pass out fake “eviction notices” to intimidate students.
The fake was so good that it fooled many people at first glance. Including the Editor-in-Chief of The Forward, a liberal publication popular among liberal Jews.
The Times was not happy with its name and trademark being use this way. Presumably its lawyers had something to say about it:
A spokeswoman from The New York Times said in a statement: “We’re extremely protective of our brand and other intellectual property and object to this group (or any group’s) attempt to cloak their political views under the banner of The New York Times. We believe strongly that those advocating for political positions are best served by speaking openly, in their own voice.”
As of this drafting, the links to the website now are dead, and the Facebook page is removed, and the Twitter account is closed.
But miraculously, *someone* saved links in the Internet Archive, such as the fake Editorial referenced in the Eisner tweet (note the fake ad on the right also calling for an end to aid):
And another fake Editorial calling for an end to aid to Israel:
The Twitter account reflects the initial burst of activity:
So what’s the lesson here?
Lies and distortion are central to anti-Israel activists and the war on Israel. Now the NY Times knows how it feels.
UPDATE: I can’t say this surprises me. Jewish Voice for Peace is taking credit for the fake New York Times edition.
The Jerusalem Post reports:
Members of Jewish Voice for Peace New York and Jews Say No!, a New York City-based pro-Palestinian organization, created the paper to “point out how biased current reporting is on Israel and Palestine and to show what a paper that was fair and accurate could look like,” Just Say No! member Alan Levine, one of its writers, said in a statement.The fake paper mimics the Times’ trademark fonts and formatting, and describes itself as “Rethinking Our 2015 Coverage on Israel-Palestine – A Supplement.” In addition to its “corrections” (“It has come to our attention that the vast majority of articles about violence in Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories have failed to include the names of Palestinians killed by Israeli forces.”) and articles, it includes fake ads, such as one for “TimeUp” watches with the motto “The Moment is Now: End US Military Aid to Israel.”
The Forward further reports:
In an emailed statement, the Times said that it was able to shut down online versions of the fake paper because it was “deliberately designed to trade on our name and mislead users.”“We are extremely protective of our brand and other intellectual property and object to these two groups – or any other groups – attempting to cloak their political views under the banner of The New York Times,” spokesperson Eileen Murphy said. “It is our firm belief that those advocating for political positions are best served by speaking openly, in their own voice.”JVP’s statement listed by name the editors, designers, and writers behind the project. They included longtime New York-area Jewish leftwing activists, among them Rosalind Petchesky, a distinguished professor at Hunter College, and Donna Nevel, a founder of Jews for Racial and Economic Justice.
The fraud was first revealed in an “exclusive” at Salon.com, through Ben Norton, a long-time anti-Israel author who now plays the role of conduit for anti-Israel posts at Salon.
The anti-Zionist Mondoweiss website lists the following “credits” for people involved:
Credits:Editors: Elly Bulkin, Nina Felshin, Donna Nevel, Rosalind PetcheskyDesigner, print edition: Sarah SillsDesigner, online edition: Asa DieboltProduction, Online edition: Talia BaurerWriters: Gordon Beeferman, Brandon Davis, Naomi Dann, Candace Graff, Alan Levine, Aurora Levins, Morales, Donna Nevel, Rosalind Petchesky, Ellen Ross, Lynn Lopez Salzedo, Carl Schieren, Irene Siegel, Pamela SpornCopyeditor: Dorothy ZellnerVideographers: Rona Merrill, Pam SpornMedia team: Naomi Dann, Beth Miller, Donna NevelDistribution coordinators: Candace Graff, Jane Hirschmann
I’m guessing that JVP finally fessed up because people were onto their involvement, including Aussie Dave at IsraellyCool.
This does not surprise me in the least. JVP is one of the most deceptive anti-Israel groups around. Even its name is deceptive — it’s not Jewish and it’s not for peace. JVP members in Chicago helped disrupt the Israeli LGBTQ Sabbath event in Chicago, helped organize the anti-Israel propaganda event in an Ithaca third grade class, disrupted an event commemorating the liberation of Auschwitz, and are at the forefront of the BDS movement using its supposed Jewish identity to give cover to anti-Semites.
This also demonstrates what I said at the very outset of the original post — Western left-wing anti-Israel activists are among the worst at spreading lies and deceptions about Israel. You can read more about JVP here.
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