The New York Times has come under fire by pro-Israel outlets for employing multiple freelancers who have a history of making antisemitic posts on social media.
One freelancer whose work covering the Israel-Palestine conflict has been published by the newspaper giant reportedly praised Adolf Hitler on Facebook as recently as 2018.
Palestinian filmmaker Soliman Hijjy, who contributed to the Times between 2018 and 2021, shared a photo of himself with an Arabic caption that roughly translates to “in a state of harmony as Hitler was during the Holocaust,” according to the pro-Israel media watchdog site HonestReporting.
In a 2012 Facebook post, Hijjy wrote “How great you are, Hitler” in Arabic, HonrestReporting said.
Times freelance photographer Hosam Salem is also accused of making antisemitic social media posts, according to the media watchdog.
Salem, whose work has been featured by the Gray Lady as recently as this month, has repeatedly cheered on Hamas.
In 2014, he expressed joy for the killings of four rabbis and a police officer in Jerusalem and praised Hamas’ capture of IDF soldier Oron Shaul, who was later killed. He applauded two Hamas attacks and in 2018, he allegedly “called for more violence,” according to HonestReporting, following an attack that killed two IDF soldiers in the West Bank.
In 2020 and 2021, Salem reportedly eulogized suicide bombers Mohammed Salem and Nabil Masoud, whose attacks killed ten Israelis.
A Times spokesperson told HonestReporting that it was looking into the two freelancers’ social media posts.
The pro-Israel site’s reporting on the antisemitic online postings of another Times freelancer, fixer Fady Hanona, led the newspaper to sever ties with the producer earlier this month.
Hanona called for the killing of Jews in social posts, according to HonestReporting.
“I don’t accept a Jew, Israeli or Zionist, or anyone else who speaks Hebrew. I’m with killing them wherever they are: children, elderly people, and soldiers,” Hanona wrote in Arabic, according to the watchdog.
“In the end, the Jews are sons of the dogs and I am in favor of killing them and burning them like Hitler did to them. I would be extremely happy,” he wrote alongside two smiling emojis.
Hanona has since deleted his social media accounts.
“The New York Times had worked with this freelance reporter only in recent weeks,” a spokesperson for the Times said. “We are no longer doing so.”
