This week, though, the Times food section crossed the line, dispelling any remaining doubt about where its heart lies. It published an adoring
feature, beginning on the section front and continuing to a full page inside the section, about Yasmin Khan. The article is headlined, “A Writer Describes Palestinian Cuisine, and the World Around It.”
The Times article reports, “Ms. Khan fell in love with Palestinian food when she first found herself in the West Bank 10 years ago, in her past life working in human rights with War on Want, a British charity committed to anti-poverty initiatives. (Ms. Khan left the group in 2011. In 2018, it was one of 20 organizations Israel blacklisted because of its support of an economic, cultural and academic boycott of Israel.)”
That’s an unhelpful and tendentious Times passage. War on Want’s “anti-poverty initiative” was to boycott the Jewish state, which it conspiratorially and inaccurately held entirely at fault for the poverty of Arabs in the West Bank and Gaza. The Timesdoesn’t ask or say whether Khan still favors a boycott of Israel, though it does allow that she “made a point not to quote Israeli sources in the book.” The Times misleadingly makes it sound as if War on Want’s BDS activities only became an issue long after Khan left the organization. In fact, though, Khan’s role at the organization while she worked there involved advocating for a boycott of Israel. In a 2009
video, Khan is seen speaking at a public event about “the crimes of Israel against the Palestinian people” and telling an audience, “I want you all to get involved in the BDS movement.” Describing War on Want as a “human rights group” is naïve, since it appears to have no regard for the rights of the Israelis it is boycotting. It might be more accurate to describe the organization as an anti-Israel hate group.
If one is wondering what Khan has been up to since leaving War on Want, one answer may be seen in
this video in which she provides propaganda on behalf of the terror-sponsoring, dissident-jailing government of Iran. “There ain’t no chance of going hungry walking around Tehran, and on every street corner, I spot tasty delights, like saffron pastries, stuffed vine leaves, and my personal favorite, succulent lamb kebabs,” Khan reports, before moving from the street to a kitchen. There, bare-armed in a sleeveless dress, she asks a guest such laughably non-hard-hitting questions as “What do you love about Tehran?” Her guest replies, apparently without irony in the capital of a country
rated “not free” by Freedom House, “We have the freedom.”
She’s also been
active on Twitter, retweeting some of the nastiest anti-Israel libels.
(full article online)
New York Times Food Section Joins the Boycott-Israel Movement
