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New York Times' Gaza Fishing Story Reels in Readers, Forgoes Facts
(CAMERA) Tamar Sternthal - On Nov. 27, the New York Times' Raja Abdulrahim described the Gaza fishing industry as collapsing under Israel's blockade. "The fishing sector now works at 50% capacity and every day it is decreasing," she quotes Jehad Salah, head of the fisheries directorate in Gaza, as saying. Yet, according to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics, Gaza's fishing industry has thrived over the last 15 years. In 2005, two years before the blockade was imposed in 2007, 707 fishing boats were in Gaza. By 2019, a dozen years into the blockade, that figure more than doubled to 1,739 boats. In 2009, Gaza fishermen caught 1,524,913 fish. In 2019, that figure climbed to 3,943,369. The Israel Defense Forces tweeted that it had provided the New York Times with extensive information about smuggling attempts and about Israeli Navy efforts to assist Gaza fishermen in distress, but the paper excluded all of it. The writer is director of CAMERA's Israel Office.