‘parroting disinformation’

NYT Slams Tom Cotton’s Letter About Journos Being in Bed With Hamas

The source of Cotton’s complaint was a pro-Israeli group that has since admitted it has no evidence to support its allegations.

The New York Times on Friday slammed Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AK) for demanding a DOJ investigation into whether the Times and other outlets were forewarned about Hamas’ attack plans. In a letter to Times chairman and publisher A. G. Sulzberger, Cotton cited “reports” claiming Times “staff were embedded with Hamas, knew about the attack, and not only went along with it but accompanied members of Hamas as they carried out the attack.” In fact, the source of those “reports” was a pro-Israeli group that has since admitted it has no evidence. “You are merely parroting disinformation harvested from the Internet based on a website that has conceded it has no evidence for its claims,” Times lawyer David McCraw shot back in a letter to Cotton. In a reply to the Times’ letter, Cotton wrote on social media, “What you don’t say is that your freelance photographers—pictured riding with the Hamas terrorists on 10/7—had no advance knowledge.” But he appears not to have actually read the Times’ letter which did, in fact, state: “No employee of the Times was embedded with Hamas, or had advance knowledge of the attack.”