Did an Editor Admit the New York Times Has a Double Standard for Palestinians and Israelis?

A New York Times’ editorial page editor in a recent Twitter exchange with a pro-Israel media critic explained why readers should not expect to see op-eds on racism in Palestinian society anytime soon.

After New York Times opinion page staff editor Matt Seaton tweeted out the link to an op-ed published by the paper last week — which was written by an Arab citizen of Israel who detailed what she described as discriminatory policies in the Jewish State — Tamar Sternthal, a director at the pro-Israel media watchdog Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting in America (CAMERA), replied to the editor with a jibe that the paper hadn’t “devoted a piece to Israeli racism in a whole month!”

Here was their exchange:

In a Times of Israel blog post, Sternthal explained her interpretation of Seaton’s words – which she termed a “stunning admission”:

A favored topic at The New York Times is the purported racism of Israeli society at large. It has been the topic, again and again, of Op-Eds, editorials and news stories.  Conversely, Times editors seem ever reluctant to approach the subject of Palestinian racism, although there is no dearth of material there. […]

[I]t is now official that the Times Op-Ed pages are not interested in Palestinian racism, incitement, discrimination and ethno-religious purity. As stateless victims, they are beyond scrutiny.

Among the comments posted on Twitter following the Seaton-Sternthal exchange were those which echoed HBO host Bill Maher’s recent criticism of liberals who refrain from criticizing Islam due to "the soft bigotry of low expectations."

Why is @NYTimes so duplicitous? Editor @mattseaton admits holding Palestinians to lower standard https://t.co/qcjsh5Tsjk h/t @TamarSternthal

— Anthony Rek LeCounte (@RekLeCounte) October 30, 2014

@mattseaton @TamarSternthal so you wont cover ISIS evils because they don't have a sovereign state?

— Eugene Kontorovich (@EVKontorovich) October 29, 2014

@iminthegulag @TamarSternthal @mattseaton If u give them a pass for bad behaviour before they have a state what kind of state will they have

— Simson (@Johnny_Simson) October 30, 2014

@TamarSternthal question is why @nytimes is applying marginal "structuralist" standard, i.e., only states can be racist

— Ron Kampeas (@kampeas) October 30, 2014

CAMERA often criticizes the New York Times coverage of the Middle East which it says has promoted “a distorted picture of the region.”