NY Times Welcomes Another Israeli Useful Idiot

Another leftist comes down on Israel and only Israel.

Some 24 hours after two criminal attacks in Israel were blamed on “religious Israelis,” The New York Times found its man. The paper, which clobbers Israel every Monday and Thursday even when nothing is happening, found its useful idiot immediately after something did happen – the anti-Gay stabbing in Jerusalem followed by a case of arson, both crimes blamed on “Settlers.” A Gay activist died in the first attack. A Palestinian child died in the second attack (though still unproven who actually did this). In a previous column we already spoke about how rare this is – Jews acting so un-Jewish. We can count on one hand how often Israelis turn to such unspeakable violence. Literally, it’s one in a million. The entire nation was nauseated and repelled by the two acts (allegedly) committed by their countrymen – but not loudly enough. That was the crux of the op-ed that ran in today’s Times, headlined “Do Israelis Still Care About Justice?”  

The byline was credited to Israeli writer Etgar Keret. The column was translated from the Hebrew by Sondra Silverston. So obviously leftist Israelis cannot keep their complaints within the family using Hebrew. They feel compelled to let the entire world share their grievance. The New York Times is always happy to oblige the English. Keret’s beef is that not enough Israelis turned out to protest the two crimes. He counted heads. Less than a million showed up at Rabin Square to denounce Jews and praise Arabs. Never mind that every Israeli is entitled to his or her own way of commiserating, and that Jews seldom do flash mobs, for Keret, this was proof that Israel’s values are slipping beyond repair. As for mourning the wronged Arab child, the Jewish Nation grieved throughout the land and without exception.


On the other hand?

Over the past 25 years, two Arab children were murdered by Israeli “terrorists.” The Jewish Times documents 177 Jewish children murdered by Arab terrorists over that period. Where was Keret and the rest of Israel’s literary community when these innocents were slaughtered? Did Keret count heads at Rabin Square or at Arafat Square in Ramallah of the million Palestinians who showed up to denounce the 177 killings? If that many showed up, likely it was to praise the killings and to ask for more. Where was The New York Times when it had 177 chances to illustrate an even hand? Not once did the paper run an op-ed to console a heartbroken Jewish nation. No voice of comfort spoke up on its pages, neither from Arab or Jew – though there are plenty of Jewish writers willing and up to the task.


But The New York Times has a specific theme that it demands of its op-ed contrubutors, styled as – “How Israel Failed Me.” Keret did his part. Like so many other Jewish writers, Israeli or American, Woody Allen included, our literary elites trip over themselves to sell out their own people. “How Israel Failed Me” is a handy device to get published in the world’s most respected (fanatically leftist Israel-hating) newspaper.
Any op-ed favorable to Israel will not, absolutely not get published. I know this from companians and from personal experience. Read this for more personal experience about how news and opinion are cooked. I half-joked that since every Israel-bashing op-ed sounded so much alike, never mind the byline, they were all, I insisted, written by Tom Friedman. I’m wrong. They’re written by people who do not know, or perhaps they do know, how much damage they do to their own people, their own country.

And that’s no joke.


New York-based Novelist Jack Engelhard writes a regular column for Arutz Sheva. Website: www.jackengelhard.com


http://www.israelnationalnews.com/Articles/Article.aspx/17337