The privileged daughter of billionaire Los Angeles Times owner Patrick Soon-Shiong is bashing her father’s media organization for running Israeli tourism ads.
Radical pro-Palestinian Nika Soon-Shiong, 33, slammed the LA Times for running a map of Israel as part of a sponsored Israeli tourism ad that ”completely erases the occupied Palestinian territories.”
On her website, Drop Site News, which she founded in 2024, she claimed that while the promo does not violate U.S. law, it “contradicts international law.”
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Dropsite News, published by Nika Soon-Shiong, wrote on X Wednesday, detailing that the LA Times was featuring a “map that completely erases the occupied Palestinian Territories” within an Israeli tourism ad. Sportsfile via Getty Images
Nika has butt heads with her father on the Gaza-Israel conflict before. Los Angeles Times via Getty Images
Drop Site News claimed it shows “a single, borderless Israel from the Mediterranean to the Jordan River, with no West Bank or Gaza, and appears to fold in the occupied Syrian Golan Heights.”
Nika wrote a simple, outraged response to the ad on X Wednesday afternoon.
“WHAT ON EARTH?” she wrote.
She has butted heads with her father on the Gaza-Israel conflict before.
She claimed before the 2024 presidential election that the LA Times did not endorse Kamala Harris because “the endorsement was an opportunity to repudiate justifications for the widespread targeting of journalists and ongoing war on children.”
Her father quickly hit back, saying her views did not represent the paper’s.
“Nika speaks in her own personal capacity regarding her opinion, as every community member has the right to do,” the owner said at the time.
“She does not have any role at the L.A. Times, nor does she participate in any decision or discussion with the editorial board, as has been made clear many times.”
The Israeli tourism ad was paid for by the Israeli government’s Ministry of Tourism.
A map featured in the ad shows Israeli landmarks like Jerusalem, Haifa, Acre and Tel Aviv. It also appears to represent non-Israeli territory, including the West Bank and the Syrian Golan Heights, as part of Israel. Los Angeles Times
Drop Site News claimed it shows “a single, borderless Israel from the Mediterranean to the Jordan River, with no West Bank or Gaza, and appears to fold in the occupied Syrian Golan Heights.” Los Angeles Times
An LA Times staff writer, James Queally, claimed the “Los Angeles Times is not doing this.”
“L.A. Times Studios — a side company our owner runs using our branding for all kinds of ads, sponsored content and non-journalism that we have no input in — is,” Queally wrote about the Israeli ad.
He added that he has been told the LA Times Studios is a “separate company” and that the lack of separation between the LA Times and the LA Times Studios “is a frustration for our entire staff, and kind of my point.”
A LA Times staff writer, James Queally, claimed the “Los Angeles Times is not doing this.” Getty Images
LA Times Studios is part of the same media group, the Los Angeles Times Media Group, as The Los Angeles Times.
Patrick Soon-Shiong is the chairman and chief executive of the group.
A masthead above the ad also redirects to the Los Angeles Times homepage. The same domain name as the LA newspaper is used in the URL for the ad.
The California Post reached out to the LA Times and Drop Site News for comment.
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