Quaker group AFSC cancels New York Times ads after paper rejects “genocide” wording on Gaza

The American Friends Service Committee (AFSC), a Quaker organization that says it has worked for peace and justice for more than a century, cancelled planned advertising with The New York Times on January 8, 2025, after the paper refused to run an ad that described Israel’s actions in Gaza as genocide. According to AFSC’s statement, the proposed ad read: “Tell Congress to stop arming Israel’s genocide in Gaza now! As a Quaker organization, we work for peace. Join us. Tell the President and Congress to stop the killing and starvation in Gaza.”

AFSC said that after receiving the text, a representative from the advertising team suggested the organization use the word “war” instead of “genocide.” AFSC described the two words as having entirely different meanings, both in everyday usage and under international law. When AFSC rejected that change, the Times Ad Acceptability Team sent an email stating, in part, that “various international bodies, human rights organizations, and governments have differing views on the situation.” The email added that, “in line with our commitment to factual accuracy and adherence to legal standards,” the paper had to ensure that advertising complied with “widely applied definitions.” AFSC’s account frames the dispute as a question of honest dealing in public statements (Proverbs 11:1).

AFSC wrote that many human rights organizations, legal scholars, genocide and Holocaust scholars, and UN bodies have determined that Israel is committing genocide or genocidal acts in Gaza. The statement named U.S.-based groups the Center for Constitutional Rights and the University Network for Human Rights, international groups Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, and several Palestinian human rights organizations. It also noted that the Times regularly looks to several of these organizations as sources for its own reporting.

The statement also referred to a provisional ruling by the International Court of Justice in January 2024 that Israel’s actions in Gaza were “plausibly genocidal.” According to AFSC, the case was brought by South Africa and now has the support of 14 countries. AFSC added that in the same week the Times rejected its ad, The Washington Post ran an advertisement from Amnesty International that used the language of genocide.

Layne Mullett, Director of Media Relations for AFSC, said the suggestion that the Times could not run the ad because of “differing views” was “absurd.” He noted that the paper advertises a wide variety of products and advocacy messages on which views differ, and asked why it was not acceptable to publicize what he called “meticulously documented atrocities committed by Israel and paid for by the United States.” Joyce Ajlouny, AFSC’s General Secretary, called the refusal “an outrageous attempt to sidestep the truth” and said Palestinians and their allies had been silenced and marginalized in the media for decades.

AFSC said it has supported humanitarian efforts in Gaza since 1948 and currently has staff in Gaza, Ramallah, and Jerusalem. Since October 2023, the organization said, its staff in Gaza have provided 1.5 million meals, hygiene kits, and other units of humanitarian aid to internally displaced people. In the United States, AFSC said its programs are working to press the Biden administration and Congress to call for a permanent cease-fire, full humanitarian access, the release of all who are held captive, and an end to U.S. military funding for Israel.

Ajlouny said AFSC’s staff in Gaza “witness daily horrors” and continue to provide support despite what she described as Israel’s “relentless attacks on their homes and families.” She said the ad campaign aims “to shed light on these atrocities” and urge people in the United States to pressure the President and Congress to halt weapons shipments to Israel and “advocate for an end to the genocide.”

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