A freelance filmmaker for the New York Times (NYT) covering Israel’s war against Hamas praised Adolph Hitler in an unearthed Facebook post.
Palestinian filmmaker Soliman Hijjy, whose NYT byline shows he covered the Israel-Hamas war as recently as Thursday, praised Hitler in an old Facebook post, the New York Post previously reported. (RELATED: EXCLUSIVE: Biden White House’s Media Gaffe Could Put Operators’ Lives ‘In Danger,’ Special Operations Group Says)
New York Times REHIRES Disgraced, Previously Fired, Adolf Hitler praising Hamas propagandist
Soliman Hijjy (also spelled Sulaiman Hejji) was the LEAD on a @nytimes article promoting the Hamas lie about Israel bombing the hospital pic.twitter.com/SDekkrkpKB
— Gabe Hoffman (@GabeHoff) October 20, 2023
“How great you are, Hitler,” Hijjy wrote in a 2012 Facebook post translated from Arabic. His post was first discovered by the pro-Israel media watchdog HonestReporting. Hijjy later posted about how he was “in a state of harmony as Hitler was during the Holocaust,” HonestReporting found.
The NYT’s decision to re-hire Hijjy was first reported by The Algemeiner, a New York City-based publication that covers Israel and the Middle East. Hijjy previously contributed to NYT coverage between 2018 and 2021, according to the New York Post.
OUTRAGE: @nytimes has rehired Gazan freelance filmmaker Soliman Hijjy (also spelled Sulaiman Hejji) who praised Adolf Hitler on social media and later posted he was “in a state of harmony as Hitler was during the Holocaust.” pic.twitter.com/V0UmjQrmyX
— HonestReporting (@HonestReporting) October 20, 2023
Hijjy’s latest coverage is focused on the Gaza hospital bombing by a Palestinian terrorist organization that the NYT falsely blamed on Israel in its initial reporting. The outlet’s source for the claim was the Gaza Health Ministry, a Hamas-run government agency in the disputed territory.
NYT appeared to use an image from a different location for its initial story, giving the impression the hospital was destroyed. An image taken the day after the blast shows the parking lot was scored by the errant rocket, the Times of Israel reported.
After the NYT changed its headline, the outlet ran a story about media outlets rushing to update their reporting to reflect who committed the hospital bombing.
President Joe Biden told Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that data shown to him by the Defense Department shows the bombing was not committed by Israel. The National Security Council (NSC) also concluded Israel was not responsible for the attack, based on its initial assessment.
An assessment by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) found that a Palestinian terrorist organization, the Islamic Jihad, fired a rocket into the hospital, Netanyahu said on X.
Hamas’ terrorist attacks on Israel took more than 1,000 civilian lives including at least 30 American citizens. The terrorist organization is holding an estimated 199 hostages and most are believed to be alive. The IDF responded to Hamas’ atrocities by launching a counteroffensive in the disputed Gaza Strip territory.
The @nytimes has just rehired a NAZI
Let that sink in.
Soliman Hijjy praises Hitler, and the NYT rehired him.
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.… pic.twitter.com/7WaCDm2YdX
— Ambassador Gilad Erdan גלעד ארדן (@giladerdan1) October 20, 2023
Gilad Erdan, Israel’s Ambassador to the United Nations, blasted the NYT on X for rehiring Hijjy to assist with its coverage of the nation’s war against Hamas.
“Soliman Hijjy praises Hitler, and the NYT rehired him,” Erdan said. “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,” he added. “Every Jew must understand that not reading or advertising in Hamas mouthpieces is an integral part of our right to self-defense.”
The NYT previously reviewed Hijjy’s old social media posts and took action to ensure he could live up to the outlet’s journalistic standards, a NYT spokesperson told the Daily Caller in a statement.
“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,” the spokesperson said.
“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.”
This piece has been updated with a comment from the New York Times