NY Times defends rehiring Gaza journalist who praised Hitler: He's 'maintained high journalistic standards'
The New York Times is standing behind one of its Gaza freelancers who was previously exposed for praising Hitler and referring to Hamas as "the resistance" on social media.
The New York Times is defending its rehiring of a Gaza journalist who was previously exposed for praising Hitler.
The Times rehired freelance videographer Soliman Hijj as part of its coverage of the Israel-Hamas war. In August 2022, the pro-Israel media watchdog HonestReporting shed light on Hijjy, whose work had been featured by the Times between 2018 and 2021.
HonestReporting found that Hijjy praised Adolf Hitler in a 2012 Facebook post, writing, "How great you are, Hitler" in Arabic.
In a 2018 post, Hijjy shared a photo of himself with a caption that translated to either "I'm in tune like Hitler during the holocaust" or "in a state of harmony as Hitler was during the Holocaust."
In a separate post, he referred to the terrorist group Hamas' rocket fire toward Israel as "the resistance."
At the time, a spokesperson for The Times told HonestReporting that it was looking into Hiijy's social media posts and declined to comment further in response to FOX News' inquiry.
However, in the wake of Hamas' horrific Oct. 7 attacks on Israel, Hijjy's name has reemerged in the Times' coverage of the brewing war, as first pointed out by the Jewish newspaper Algemeiner.
The Times is now standing by Hijjy.
"We reviewed problematic social media posts by Mr. Hijjy when they first came to light in 2022 and took a variety of actions to ensure he understood our concerns and could adhere to our standards if he wished to do freelance work for us in the future," a spokesperson for the Times told FOX News Digital. "Mr. Hijjy followed those steps and has maintained high journalistic standards. He has delivered important and impartial work at great personal risk in Gaza during this conflict."
FOX News Digital asked multiple follow-up questions, including what were the Times' specific standards Hijjy was adhering to and how can he cover the Israel-Gaza conflict impartially when he has praised Hitler in the past. The Times spokesperson declined to comment further.
Hijjy has either had a byline or contributed to eight separate reports for the Times since Oct. 12, according to his author page.
His work includes the Times' coverage of the explosion outside the Gaza hospital this week, which the Times' and many other media organizations reported was an Israeli airstrike, citing Hamas officials' false claims.
Hijjy's return to the Times is not being welcomed by critics.
"The @nytimes has just rehired a NAZI. Let that sink in," Israeli Ambassador to the U.N. Gilad Erdan reacted. "We all saw how the NYT immediately parroted Hamas’ lies regarding the al-Ahli hospital (which Hijjy contributed to) and still refuses to retract these fabrications. Spreading Hamas propaganda and rehiring a Holocaust-praising terror supporter, actively stokes antisemitism. Every Jew must understand that not reading or advertising in Hamas mouthpieces is an integral part of our right to self-defense."
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