New York Times Repeats U.S. Government’s Evidence-Free Claim That Gaza Protests Are Part of Iranian Plot
Where is the actual evidence that Iranian operatives “posing as students” are helping organize and fund campus protests over the war on Gaza?
On September 4, the New York Times did something it has a long and sordid history of doing: laundering extremely loaded and consequential “U.S. intelligence” claims without providing an ounce of skepticism — or evidence. The report, headlined “Iran Emerges as a Top Disinformation Threat in U.S. Presidential Race,” begins with fairly boilerplate hand wringing about foreign influence operations, followed by authors Steven Lee Myers,Tiffany Hsu and Farnaz Fassihi casually tossing out a government claim that, by implication, has the effect of smearing hundreds of thousands of student protesters:
“Across the United States this spring, Iran also used social media to stoke student-organized protests against Israel’s war in Gaza, with operatives providing financial assistance and posing as students, according to American intelligence assessments.”
The Iranian government is not only funding U.S.-based Gaza student protests, but using “operatives” to “pose as students”? Certainly, if U.S. authorities had evidence of this explosive claim, they would be rolling out indictments, as they did on the same day against several Russian entities that had worked to pay rightwing online influencers to spread their message about supporting Ukraine being weak and liberal, right?
In These Times also reached out to the Department of Justice to see if the agency could provide any evidence of this alleged financial assistance or provide details of the extent of these alleged “operatives” that have been “posing as students” – – online or otherwise – – but we received no response. So far, neither the U.S. government nor the New York Times has provided any evidence to support either of these claims.
The New York Times giving liberal sanction to the claim that Iranian agents are funding and participating in Gaza protests invariably contributes to a broader campaign to smear Gaza protests.
The New York Times giving liberal sanction to the claim that Iranian agents are funding and participating in Gaza protests invariably contributes to a broader campaign to smear Gaza protests. This has potentially violent consequences for a protest movement increasingly targeted by university officials, District Attorneys, the federal government, police and right-wing pro-Israel vigilantes. It’s a claim that should be made with great care and even greater evidence. Instead, it’s just tossed out in the paper of record based entirely on an unsourced government assertion.
The Times isn’t alone: This claim and variations of it have been made by far-right media outlets and think tanks for months – – all without verifiable evidence. On Sunday, former Secretary of State and current Professor of International and Public Affairs at Columbia University, Hillary Clinton, appeared on Fareed Zakaria GPS and alluded to similar allegations. In reference to the Gaza campus protests, she said, “we have now seen evidence of foreign money” without saying what specifically she was referencing or citing any of this alleged evidence.
https://inthesetimes.com/article/new-york-times-gaza-israel-iran-campus-protest