LONDON: The Israel’s daily Haaretz printed the pictures of the 67 children killed in the Israeli bombardment of Gaza on its front page on Thursday. The headline “The Price of War” was printed alongside the pictures.
The pictures were linked to a New York Times article that Haaretz ran that day with copy about Palestinian and Israeli children killed during the recent fighting.
The gesture from Haaretz to display the pictures of Palestinian children killed under Israeli violence conveys a strong sense of journalistic objectivity. While the newspaper is Israeli, it nevertheless chose to highlight the atrocities committed by the Israelis front and center.
The feature invoked contradictory emotions from people. Many praised Haaretz for its journalistic integrity and its criticism of the Israeli state, while others disapproved of the story citing its insensitivity, especially considering the title.
One reader said: “I’ve always been impressed by @haaretz but this is incredible even for them. It takes serious guts to post stuff like this. They really don’t get enough credit”.
Meanwhile, the publisher of Haaretz, Amos Schocken, reportedly apologized after criticism that the newspaper only displayed the pictures of Palestinian children and not Israeli children killed during the recent fighting in Gaza, when both had been mentioned in the article.
Schocken attributed the “serious mistake” to an unspecified editor “who explained that we had already reported on their cases extensively and in real time”.
