By Palestine Chronicle Staff 
The New York Times is reportedly investigating an Israeli freelancer who co-authored the controversial report on alleged sexual violence that occurred on October 7 during Hamas’ military operation inside Israel, the Daily Beast revealed on Sunday.
The news emerged a few hours after a report by Mondoweiss exposed Anat Schwartz’s online record, which was reportedly scrutinized by independent researchers.
Mondoweiss raised doubts about the credibility of the Israeli filmmaker.
“You would expect the paper to look for someone with actual journalistic experience, especially for a story as sensitive as this one, written during the fog of war,” the report stated.
According to the investigation, Schwartz liked several posts repeating the “40 beheaded baby” claim, which was debunked almost immediately and endorsed extremist posts, urging the Israeli army to “turn Gaza into a slaughterhouse,” and calling Palestinians “human animals.”
Moreover, according to Mondoweiss, Schwartz “apparently also served in Israeli Military Intelligence.”
‘Unacceptable Violations’
“We are aware that a freelance journalist in Israel who has worked with The Times has ‘liked’ several social media posts,” NYT spokesperson Danielle Rhodes Ha said in a statement, according to The Daily Beast. “Those ‘likes’ are unacceptable violations of our company policy. We are currently reviewing the matter.”
The US-based news website added that Schwartz “did not immediately respond to a request for comment”.
Poor Journalism
This brings into question once again the issue raised by The Palestine Chronicle in its documentary produced in association with Friends of Palestine Network, which highlights the repeated claims by Israel about sexual violence committed by the resistance on October 7.
The outcome of their investigation resulted in the launch of ‘The Black Dress’, an 18-minute documentary looking into The New York Times allegations and the possible falsification of evidence regarding what truly transpired on October 7.
The documentary debunked the claims, co-authored by Schwartz, placing it in several contexts, journalistic, political and historical.
As soon as the documentary appeared on social media, companies like Facebook either completely banned it or imposed severe restrictions.
“This is further validation to our claims that something was extremely unprofessional about the way that the Times handled the matter,” co-producer and host of the Black Dress, Romana Rubeo said.
“We want to believe that the damage done by the New York Times report can in fact be reversed,” she added.
“We thank our colleagues in independent media for continuing to expose this poor journalism, which is providing the needed ‘moral’ ground for Israel to carry on with its genocide in Gaza,” she added.
(The Palestine Chronicle)
