A category on this site is called “Good Times and Bad.” Recently we’ve shared a half dozen extremely informative pieces from the self-styled “Paper of Record,” leading one reader to ask if we no longer aspired to be fair and balanced.

Today we can allay that fear, because the Times ran a front-page headline that is appallingly biased and misleading:  “Confrontations at Gaza Fence Leave 15 Dead.”

The first paragraph states:  “Tens of thousands of Palestinians gathered along Gaza’s border with Israel on Friday to vent their pent-up frustrations in a protest that quickly turned violent, with Israeli forces killing 15 at the border fence.”  In other words,

Israeli Troops
Kill 15 at Gaza
Demonstration

The Times headline not only creates the false impression of two-sided violence, it employs the passive voice, “Leave 15 Dead,” concealing the one-sided nature of the massacre. The confrontation didn’t kill people —Israeli soldiers did, with rifles and ammo paid for by US taxpayers.

Also offensive was the description in the lede graf of protestors “gathered… to vent their pent-up frustrations,” as if their anger was essentially psychological. It was political.

-30-