{
  "id": 5717572,
  "title": "'What do you call this but ethnic cleansing?' NYT columnist on West Bank demolition",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/09/05/what-do-you-call-this-but-ethnic-cleansing-nyt-columnist-on-west-bank",
  "topic": "world",
  "section": "World",
  "published": "2026-09-05T05:03:54.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "Middle East Eye",
    "slug": "middle-east-eye",
    "url": "https://www.middleeasteye.net/live-blog/live-blog-update/what-do-you-call-ethnic-cleansing-nyt-columnist-west-bank-demolition"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "What do you call this but ethnic cleansing? Pulitzer-winning New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof decried Israeli settlers' interference during his recent visit to several Palestinian villages in the West Bank. One such village, Khirbat al-Tabban, has reportedly been emptied of its residents due to repeated assaults from settlers. In a tweet, Kristof questioned what term could aptly describe this situation, stating, \"What do you call this but ethnic cleansing?\" This assessment followed the release of a video by Yehuda Shaul, co-director of the Ofek Center and co-founder of Breaking the Silence, which captured the demolition of Khirbat al-Tabban in Masafer Yatta by Israeli authorities. Shaul cautioned that without strong international intervention, Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich's political objectives may result in the continued obliteration of more Palestinian communities in the region. Masafer Yatta, a group of Palestinian hamlets situated in the South Hebron Hills, has been under persistent Israeli military pressure to relocate its inhabitants, citing the land as a target for military exercises.",
  "summary": "'What do you call this but ethnic cleansing?' NYT columnist on West Bank demolition Pulitzer-winning New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof said Israeli settlers had blocked him during his visit this spring to a few Palestinian villages, one of which has been cleansed of its residents since. Kristof wrote on X: “I visited these Palestinian villages in the spring. Families were still struggling…",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 3,
    "also_reported_by": [
      {
        "outlet": "Dawn",
        "title": "Emptying West Bank refugee camps may be a war crime: UN",
        "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/09/05/emptying-west-bank-refugee-camps-may-be-a-war-crime-un",
        "published": "2026-09-05T02:36:23.000Z"
      },
      {
        "outlet": "Middle East Eye",
        "title": "UN says Israeli settler violence in West Bank displaced 2,500 Palestinians in 2026",
        "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/09/05/un-says-israeli-settler-violence-in-west-bank-displaced-2-500",
        "published": "2026-09-05T06:53:49.000Z"
      }
    ]
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}