It's plenty easy to cry plagiarism these days, and even easier when the subject comes to reporting, where the facts are often stark and difficult to embellish upon, so we generally counsel restraint on whipping out the old "they ripped this off" accusation. Still, a tipster alerted us to recent New York Times coverage of the negotiations surrounding kidnapped Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit containing a few sentences that seem awfully similar to those published earlier in Israel's Haaretz. Unavoidable duplication or jacked imitation? We'll take a look after the jump.

Here's Haaretz:

On Friday, Noam Shalit, Gilad Shalit's father, published an open letter in the Palestinian daily Al Quds, appealing to his son's captors. ...Noam Shalit added "the fact that we don't know how you are, how you feel, how you are making it through the winter, and how the Palestinian organizations holding you are treating you, is very hard for us. They declare that you are a prisoner of war, but unfortunately, they are
preventing you from receiving the rights to which you are entitled as a prisoner of war according to international law, and also according to the exalted Islamic law."
Noam Shalit also quoted verses from the Koran on the proper treatment of prisoners.

And here's the Times:

On Friday, the Israeli soldier's father, Noam Shalit, published a letter in the Palestinian daily Al Quds, addressing his son and appealing to his captors.He wrote: "The fact that we don't know how you are, how you feel, how you are making it through the winter, and how the Palestinian organizations holding you are treating you, is very hard for us. They declare that you are a prisoner of war, but unfortunately, they are preventing you from receiving the rights to which you are entitled as a prisoner of war according to international law, and also according to the exalted Islamic law." Mr. Shalit then quoted verses from the Koran on the treatment of prisoners..."

Again, it could just be a coincidence, although we understand that the Times is investigating.

Hamas Reports Progress on Freeing Israeli Soldier [NYT]
Palestinian media: PM, Mubarak to announce Shalit deal Thurs. [Haaretz]