Update: Mohsen Mahdawi's Collapsing Web of Lies
The New York Times ignores its own coverage, helping him maintain his autobiographical mythology
Mohsen Mahdawi, the media darling who has led a vicious antisemitic movement at Columbia University, is changing his story to try to cover up falsehoods — with the media’s help.
In a new op-ed for the New York Times, Mahdawi yet again altered what an independent journalist proved to be false. But in doing so, Mahdawi made things even worse for himself.
Independent journalist David Collier joined me in the latest episode of They Stand Corrected to piece through what Mahdawi has been doing:
Now that Mahdawi has been released, he gave an essay to the New York Times. David immediately saw the glaring errors, and is out with a new update.
Here is just one of the big problems, in brief. For years, Mahdawi has claimed that when he was 10 years old, the Israeli military killed his best friend, shooting him in the chest. Unlike all the news organizations that reported this as fact, David checked it — and found that the story is, in his word, “impossible.” Using extensive records from a far-left organization that condemns Israel constantly (B’Tselem, which the mainstream media love to cite), David showed that no such death occurred. In fact, the only death of any child in the refugee camp where Mahdawi lived was a couple of years later, and that child was not shot.
Perhaps recognizing that a few people were catching on, Mahdawi later gave a speech claiming that his friend was killed when he was 12, David found. Mahdawi gave no explanation for changing that detail. But even still, records show that no death like the one he described had occurred. Now, a new change. In his op-ed for the Times, Mahdawi claimed he was 11 when this happened.
But hey, that’s just a number, right? No — it gets worse. Mahdawi has always claimed that as he sat by his best friend’s grave, his uncle gave him an inspirational talk about the importance of education. And that this uncle was later killed by the Israeli military. He has said this over and over.
Now, Mahdawi says he spent his 11th birthday walking in his uncle’s funeral. Yes, the same uncle. This makes the grave story impossible even by his own latest claims. David points out that the New York Times ignored its own previous reporting in publishing this op-ed.
The Times claims that it fact checks essays. This is just the latest proof that it does not. See my recent takedown of another Times essay here. (I have contacted the NYT for comment on this Mahdawi op-ed, but I doubt they will come back with anything that actually explains their failures. They never do.)
As I’ve explained on They Stand Corrected, Mahdawi is a leader of a Columbia group that works to justify and build support for Hamas. The media has reported some facts about this group, but then ignored those facts when they’re inconvenient to fit a narrative.
I’ve also explained that the law is clear: People on green cards are not allowed to do this. All the more reason that the media’s treating Mahdawi as a hero is so dangerous. See a new Newsweek column from Mark Goldfeder, director of the National Jewish Advocacy Center.
Meanwhile, the media keeps quoting some Jewish people who insist Mahdawi is peace-loving and somehow totally not antisemitic. Here’s a crucial question for them: Do they know the real Mahdawi — the one who hides the terrorist activities of his uncle and other family members; who created a Facebook group with videos extolling terrorists and the slaughter of Jews; who would not even let people call for the release of the Bibas children uninterrupted? See David Collier’s thread on X.
Mahdawi, like everyone, should get due process. AND he is no truth-telling, peace-loving hero. Both things can be true at the same time. The media is blowing it. Again.
Be sure to catch up on this and other recent episodes:
They Stand Corrected exists through your support! Please consider becoming a paid subscriber, which comes with lots of perks, including access to this.
And here’s a free way you can help support today:
U.S. administrations have agreed that Iran must not get a nuclear weapon. Biden made this clear, and Trump has not changed the policy. The threat is very real, and would be horrific for democracies everywhere. Please sign this petition. Thanks to a sponsored partnership, your signature using this unique link will also help support this show. bit.ly/3Gs94vH.
JL