More NY Slimes hypocrisy.
Uploaded by SDAMatt2a on Mar 16, 2012 – Pamela Geller of Atlas Shrugs joins Ezra Levant to discuss the hilarious case of the New York Times accepting an ad urging Catholics to leave the Church and yet essentially rejecting the same ad reworked by Pam to urge muslims to leave islam.
NY Slimes mental case, Thomas Friedman, has dispatched another lie-infested bunch of baloney against Israel and especially, Benjamin Netanyahu.
Essentially, Friedman blames Netanyahu for all of Israel’s woes, and insists that if only Israel would bend over and take it up the tush from all of Her neighbors, then Israel would win the undying, phony, worthless sympathy of Liberal jackasses like him, of whom Friedman believes are the only people on the planet with a clue.
He ignores the facts entirely, and offers no criticism whatsoever of Mahmoud Abbas, the PLO, Hamas, Egypt, Turkey, Iran, or the Obama regime. This is the same lunatic who said that the Tea Party is the “Hezbollah faction” of the GOP.
No, Friedman insists that it’s all Bibi’s fault, and, furthermore, if Iran develops nuclear weapons, that, too, is Netanyahu’s doing and problem, and Obama is utterly guiltless. A nuclear Iran, to his reasoning, is strictly an Israeli problem, one brought on by Netanyahu’s intransigence. This is what passes for genius at the NY Times.
Friedman, like his moronic co-worker, Paul Krugman, has spent his entire career being wrong, and for doing so, has been repeatedly rewarded by fawning Liberals and Israel-haters everywhere. The best thing Israel and Netanyahu could ever do, is the exact opposite of whatever fatuous knuckleheads like Friedman exhort.
Yo, Tom. Here’s Abbas just two weeks ago in his own words, proving that you are nothing but a 5th column useful idiot that lives in a Liberal, elitist fantasy world. Put this in your peace pipe and stick it up your own tush, you shmuck.
Jerusalem Post – New York Times columnist and former Middle East correspondent Thomas Friedman wrote Sunday that the current Israeli government, led by Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, is “the most diplomatically inept and strategically incompetent” in Israel’s history and has put the country in a “very dangerous situation.”
The latest in a number of columns critical of Netanyahu’s policy vis-a-vis the Palestinians published in the past year, Friedman accuses the prime minister of having a “do nothing” strategy in order to avoid going against right wing elements in his coalition.
In addition, the former NY Times Jerusalem bureau chief echoes statements attributed to Robert Gates last week, in which the former US defense secretary said that Netanyahu is an “ungrateful ally” to the United States.The prime minister, Friedman writes, calls upon the US to “stop Iran’s nuclear program and help Israel out of every pickle, but make[s] sure that [US President Barack] Obama can’t ask for anything in return – like halting Israeli settlements.”
Netanyahu, he suggests, has engaged in a mobilization of US Congressional Republicans and American Jewish leadership to publicly “suggest that Obama is hostile to Israel,” all-the-while getting the Israel lobby “to hammer anyone in the administration or Congress” that is critical of the prime minister.
Engaging in internal American political battles, he writes, is Netanyahu’s strategy.
Although expressing “great sympathy for Israel’s strategic dilemma” and saying he has no delusions about its enemies, Friedman says that Israel is not helping its friends like Obama with any tools to help defend it.
Israel should, he writes, make “a peace overture that fair-minded people would recognize as serious, and thereby reduce its isolation.”
In perhaps his strongest rebuke, however, Friedman concludes that Israel “does not have a leader” capable of making such moves.
Now for a dose of reality:
And, of course, no Tom Friedman post is complete without this from Israel’s terrific satire site, Latma.
So, Thomas Friedman equates the Tea Party with the most powerful terrorist group on the planet, Hezbollah.
The only similarity between the two is that the policies of Thomas Friedman, and those like him, did much to create both Hezbollah and the Tea Party.
Friedman, a liberal fascist and jackass, whom time has been proved wrong on everything the arrogant moron has ever uttered, did more than any other so-called pundit to assure the rise of Hezbollah, Hamas, and a nuclear Iran. The guy is a menace.
The Tea Party is America’s reaction to the economic policies that Friedman and his equally imbecilic partner in crime, Paul Krugman, have both supported.
The final irony is, if Hezbollah were like the Tea Party, then there would be peace, freedom, and prosperity in the Middle East. The Middle East needs a Tea Party; the terrorist groups Hezbollah and Hamas need Thomas Friedman.
NY Slimes h/t Weasel Zippers) [...] Alas, that is the Tea Party. It is so lacking in any aspiration for American greatness, so dominated by the narrowest visions for our country and so ignorant of the fact that it was not tax cuts that made America great but our unique public-private partnerships across the generations. If sane Republicans do not stand up to this Hezbollah faction in their midst, the Tea Party will take the G.O.P. on a suicide mission. No American politician was more allergic to debt or taxes than Thomas Jefferson, but he also appreciated the need to have the resources to make the Louisiana Purchase and insisted that on his tombstone it be written that he founded the University of Virginia.
Which reminds me of this hilarious classic from the great Israeli satirical group, Latma.
The NY Slimes’ number one circus clown has been pontificating out his fat ass again. His most recent absurd, braindead ideas for Israel have drawn ridicule from many corners, including Mark Steyn.
But it is the always smack on and deadly funny folks at Latma who put the self-absorbed chowderhead Friendman in his place.
"Pull my finger..."
Thomas Friedman of the NY Slimes has a new piece out today where he essentially says that if democracy doesn’t take hold in Egypt it is all Israel’s fault. If it does take hold, it’s in spite of Israel. And if Israel doesn’t embrace the Muslim Brotherhood, Israel will deserve whatever hell is unleashed on Her by Egypt.
Friedman has been writing about the Middle East for decades, and yet he has never been right about anything he has ever said. The man is incapable of objectivity, and is blinded by his Leftist ideology.
The article is so incoherent and idiotic that it would take too long to refute every moronic thing he writes, but that is typical for Friedman. Just spray the page with crap and walk away.
Here is how it opens:
For anyone who spent time in Tahrir Square these last three weeks, one thing was very obvious: Israel was not part of this story at all. This was about Egypt and about the longing of Egyptians for the most basic human rights, which were described to me by opposition Egyptian newspaper editor Ibrahim Essa as “freedom, dignity and justice.’’ It doesn’t get any more primal than that. And when young Egyptians looked around the region and asked: Who is with us in this quest and who is not?, the two big countries they knew were against them were Israel and Saudi Arabia. Sad. The children of Egypt were having their liberation moment and the children of Israel decided to side with Pharaoh – right to the very end.
It is so ironic, because one of the signs that was hanging in Tahrir Square all this past week was: “If Mubarak is Pharaoh, we are all Moses.’’
Yes, he makes the big bucks for this bilge.
Hey, Tom, not about Israel? Not at all? Really?
Isn’t it a little early to declare freedom and liberty? So far, all we know for sure is that one military dictatorship has been swapped for another. That’s it.
Egypt has over 80 million people. A fraction of one percent of Egypt was in the streets. The much quoted Pew poll shows that the vast majority of Egyptians want sharia law and hate America, Jews, and Israel.
• 49% of Egyptians say Islam plays only a “small role” in public affairs under President Hosni Mubarak, while 95% prefer the religion play a “large role in politics.”
• 84% favor the death penalty for people who leave the Muslim faith.
• 82% support stoning adulterers.
• 77% think thieves should have their hands cut off.
• 54% support a law segregating women from men in the workplace.
• 54% believe suicide bombings that kill civilians can be justified.
• Nearly half support the terrorist group Hamas.
• 30% have a favorable opinion of Hezbollah.
• 20% maintain positive views of al-Qaida and Osama bin Laden.
• 82% of Egyptians dislike the U.S. — the highest unfavorable rating among the 18 Muslim nations Pew surveyed.
Friedman continues:
I am more worried today about Israel’s future than I have ever been, because I think that at time of great change in this region – and we have just seen the beginnings of it – Israel today has the most out-of-touch, in-bred, unimaginative and cliché-driven cabinet it has ever had.
“Out-of-touch, in-bred, unimaginative and cliché-driven”: that describes the NY Times!
Friedman has never truly been “worried…about Israel’s future”. If he had been, he wouldn’t have been such a staunch and unrepentant supporter of the ruinous Oslo Accords which led to the death or maiming of thousands of Israeli citizens.
Israel stinks.
Friedman detests every Israeli government in the end because no Israel government – Left, Right, or Center, and Israelis have tried them all in their search for peace – ever lives up to his delusional expectations.
But, from beginning to end, he especially despises those governments that are center-right.
Friedman’s opinions are never based on truth or facts, but always and only on the blathering of his own ego. He’s a Leftist, and if you’re not, then you must, by definition, be ‘out-of-touch’.
Just after admitting that Egypt is a country “where 40 percent of the population is living on $2 a day and 35 percent are still illiterate,” he says this:
Israel has one of the most dynamic high-tech sectors in the world. Israelis should understand better than anyone that stability is totally 20th century. In a flat world, it is all about dynamism now and how you manage constant change. Or as a Lebanese analyst here said to me, the right business model in today’s world is: “If it ain’t broke, break it – before your competition does.’’
NYT's stock chart: "Break it"
This is what passes for deep thinking at the NY Slimes, and why Liberals consider Friedman a philosopher and intellectual of the first order.
“Stability is totally 20th century”? Dude, are you really going to sit there and explain the meaning of 20th century stability to Israel?
The 20th century hasn’t known a minute of stability, especially when it comes to the Middle East. Israel has had to fight seven wars in sixty-two years, as well as relentless terrorism. Call that stable?
Yet, Friedman is calling for even more instability. Like all Leftists, he craves radical change at any price.
He quotes the pontificating of some unnamed Lebanese “analyst” as telling him that “the right business model” in today’s world is: “If it ain’t broke, break it – before your competition does.’’
(That is particularly rich considering the financial state of the NY Times, whose stock is down some 80% since 2000.)
Uh-huh, well, once-democratic Lebanon has been ‘broken’ for over 30 years. How’s that working out for them? Liberals think statements like that are edgy and wise, when they are really just gibberish. Was this Lebanese “analyst” a businessman? Friedman doesn’t say. Most likely he was just another Left-wing journalist like himself, a guy he had some drinks with at the 5 start hotel he was camped out in.
35% of Egyptians are illiterate and haven’t a clue what the meaning of democracy is, but Friedman thinks Egypt is about to become a high-tech superpower like Israel – the land of the people of the Book, the country with the highest number of engineers, scientists and Ph.D’s per capita in the world.
Democracy is hard in any society. As Winston Churchill said: “It is said that democracy is the worst form of government except for all the others that have been tried.”
It requires an informed electorate and constant vigilance. Get outside of the big cities, and most of Egypt looks the same as it did a hundred years ago. Egypt faces high unemployment, spiraling inflation, shortages of all kinds, and a barnyard full of radical Islamic extremists. Hardly the basis for a healthy democracy. Yet, for Friedman, the more chaos the better.
And, as we sit here today, the popular trend is not with the Muslim Brotherhood. Indeed, what makes the uprising here so impressive – and in that sense so dangerous to other autocracies in the region – is precisely the fact that it is not owned by, and was not inspired by, the Muslim Brotherhood.
This shows how ignorant the NY Slimes oracle truly is. He thinks the revolution was some spontaneous whim of 80 million hip Egyptians checking their Facebook page. He completely ignores the influence of Leftist community organizers who have been at work there.
Furthermore, the Muslim Brotherhood is the most organized groups outside the government. If he thinks they played no part then he is more deluded than we already know him to be.
And even if the Muslim Brotherhood is somehow kept in check, there are plenty of other lunatics who share similar opinions. We learn today that, ‘Ayman Nour, a leading Egyptian opposition figure who is expected to run for President – and someone who is a darling of the West – has called for the 1979 Peace Treaty with Israel to be reassessed.’ (h/t Legalinsurrection)
Friedman concludes with this:
Israel has very little to contribute to democracy-building in Egypt. Egyptians don’t want Israel’s help. But the Egyptian people will remember its hindrance.
So…Israel, a proven democracy with a peace treaty with Egypt, and a neighbor with a 21st century economy has nothing to contribute, and Egyptians don’t want Israel’s help anyway?
Why? Well, Friedman won’t say, but centuries of stubborn, in-bred Jew-hatred might be one reason.
Yet, he says, Egyptians “will remember Israel’s hindrance.”
Israel didn’t do a damn thing. Friedman is just providing Egypt with a scapegoat. Israel was not on the people’s side, he says, and therefore, Egyptians will have every right to continue to despise the ‘Zionist entitiy’.
If that dynamic democratic Egypt does come into being one day, Israel will have no choice but to make peace with 80 million Egyptians – instead of with just one man.
That’s a whole lot of dumb for one sentence.
“If“? And if your idea of a dynamic democracy doesn’t come into being? If it turns into another Iran, what then, genius?
Israel “will have no choice but to make peace with 80 million Egyptians”? Israel would love nothing more, but do Egyptians want peace with Israel? Is there any evidence of that in a country where Mein Kampf and Protocols of the Elders of Zion are perennial best-sellers?
Ayman Nour sure doesn’t seem too keen on the idea of peace. Who are you kidding! Most Egyptians think the Camp David Accords and peace treaty with Israel was a huge mistake, second only to the Jewish State’s birth. Sadat was assassinated because of it.
Face it, there is nothing Israel can say or do that will not be twisted to be used against Her by detractors like Friedman. Any offer of assistance will appear as meddling. To do or say nothing, is to be accused of not boarding the democracy fetish train.
Hopefully, Israel will prepare for the worst and ignore useless hack pundits like Thomas Friedman.
Just when you think Democrats can get no lower, they always surprise you with a new level of turpitude. The heinous, cold-blooded murders carried out by 22 year-old Jared Loughner continue to be blamed on conservatives and Tea Party people. The proven falseness of the claims is being completely ignored by the Obama media machine.
Over at Gateway Pundit, there is a continual updating of the situation, and the growing record of journalistic malpractice involved in the story’s coverage.
Among the outrages was that carried out by ABC. ABC interviewed a friend of Loughner, Caitlin Parker. She was the gal who tweeted yesterday that Loughner was “far left” and “quite liberal.” ABC, purposely avoided questioning her about this.
Ed Morrissey over at Hotair.com details the blatant hypocrisy of CNN. Quoting Byron York of the Washington Examiner, they return to the slaughter at Fort Hood and recall how CNN urged viewers not to jump to any conclusions, that what occurred there might have been a terrorist act, and that Major Nidal Hasan’s religious beliefs could have played any part. Well, we know how that turned out.
Yet,
“…as York notes, the same people who insisted in November 2009 that people should not rush to judgment about the potential connection of radical Islam to the Fort Hood shooting practically broke legs trying to tie an apparent paranoid schizophrenic who hailed Mein Kampf and The Communist Manifesto to Sarah Palin.”
But it gets worse, much worse. The Politico, a left of center website of professional journalists, reported a discussion it held with Democrat operatives:
One veteran Democratic operative, who blames overheated rhetoric for the shooting, said President Barack Obama should carefully but forcefully do what his predecessor did.
“They need to deftly pin this on the tea partiers,” said the Democrat. “Just like the Clinton White House deftly pinned the Oklahoma City bombing on the militia and anti-government people.”
Another Democratic strategist said the similarity is that Tucson and Oklahoma City both “take place in a climate of bitter and virulent rhetoric against the government and Democrats.”
This Democrat said that the time had come to insist that Republicans stand up when, for example, a figure such as Fox News commentator Glenn Beck says something incendiary.
Morrissey and York go on and describe a number of other hypocrisies, if not down right disinformation. It is well-worth reading, if you are interested.
Another piece to read is that of Roger Kimball at Pajamasmedia. He rightly takes the despicable Paul Krugman to task, writing:
Loughner’s pistol was probably still warm when Krugman wheeled into print in an effort to make political capital out of the tragedy. “Assassination Attempt in Arizona” should join that rogues’ gallery of disgusting Times stories that wallow in the gutter of political innuendo and mendacity even as they preen themselves on their exhibition of holier-than-thou virtue.
This is all quite frightening, to say the least. There is a deliberate attempt coming from some of the highest places in media and the Democrat party to demonize the right. As Obama’s Rahm Emmanuel famously liked to say, “never let a crisis go to waste.”
But none of this should come as any surprise to anyone who has been observing the way Democrats and the mainstream media regularly operate.
Furthermore, as the Left bleats on and on about the tenor and tone of the right, let us recall Barack Obama’s own mellifluous voice, shall we? Here are a few choice reminders via Jim Hoft at Gateway Pundit.
** Obama: “They Bring a Knife…We Bring a Gun”
** Obama to His Followers: “Get in Their Faces!”
** Obama on ACORN Mobs: “I don’t want to quell anger. I think people are right to be angry! I’m angry!”
** Obama to His Mercenary Army: “Hit Back Twice As Hard”
** Obama on the private sector: “We talk to these folks… so I know whose ass to kick.“
** Obama to voters: Republican victory would mean “hand to hand combat”
** Obama to lib supporters: “It’s time to Fight for it.”
** Obama to Latino supporters: “Punish your enemies.”
** Obama to democrats: “I’m itching for a fight.”
Sad to say, but this story is only going to get worse. However, it is vitally important that Republicans and those on the right do not summit to these attacks. No whining. No simpering. They must take the offensive and slap down each and every accusation that comes their way. The media is dying to use this story to bludgeon them, and make them cower in fear. The right has absolutely nothing to apologize for. Loughner was a crackpot and a man of the Left. The evidence for this is overwhelming.
The Left plays for keeps. Nothing, absolutely nothing is too vile for them to attempt. They want to discredit the Tea Party and the new Republican House in the eyes of the gullible. Will they succeed? No, they won’t. The only success they might have is in hardening the divide in the country that they already forged.
22-year-old Jared Loughner
A horrible tragedy occurs in Tucson, AZ, and within hours, all the usual suspects like Jane Fonda, Paul Krugman, Keith Olbermann, the Leftist blogs, and the entire state-run media are blaming conservatives, the Tea Party, anyone associated with conservatives and the Tea Party, and especially, Sarah Palin.
Hanoi Jane Fonda
This tragic event demonstrates, as if we needed any more evidence, that America is almost irreparably divided.
22-year-old Jared Loughner was not, and never was a conservative. There is absolutely no evidence of him being a conservative in any way.
Paul Krugman: New York Slimes' Chief Slimester
All the evidence regarding his political and philosophical views, evidence which is flowing fast and furious now, suggests that the guy was a) a mental case, and b) a Leftist. One need go no further than to Loughner’s own YouTube page to understand this. The guy is a nut.
I’m not interested in his psychological make up. You can count on the media to spend the next week bringing out all their ‘experts’ to tell us how and why he did what he did. And they will all be wrong. They will put all of America on their couch while they are at it, and declare Americans clinically insane. They’d get that one half right.
It’s abundantly clear by the insane rampage on the Left and their rabid desire to blame the right without a shred of evidence, that it is the entire Left who is in need of psychiatric help. The kook Left was angry at Gabrielle Giffords for not voting for Nancy Pelosi as speaker. To many on the Left, she had sold them out.
The Arizona Daily Star, certainly not a right of center paper, has a good initial story on the guy. It describes a warped guy with a lot of baggage.
…The online accounts also contain bizarre discussions of a new currency and literacy, as well as threatening and despairing messages.
“WOW! I’m glad i didn’t kill myself. I’ll see you on National T.v.! This is foreshadow …. why doesn’t anyone talk to me?..” he posted on MySpace Dec. 14.
On Dec. 13, he wrote: “I don’t feel good: I’m ready to kill a police officer! I can say it.”
In a posting on YouTube, Loughner wrote repeatedly about a new currency.
“I’m thinking of creating a new currency,” he wrote. “Therefore, I’m thinking of a design for my new coins size, shape, color, material, and image to start a new money system.”
He also wrote repeatedly about literacy. In a written message on YouTube, Loughner said: “The majority of people, who reside in District-8 are illiterate – hilarious. I don’t control your English grammar structure, but you control your English grammar structure.”
In a message posted on his MySpace account, titled “Goodbye friends,” Loughner said: “Dear friends…please don’t be mad at me. The literacy rate is below 5%. I haven’t talked to one person who is literate.” It was unclear when it was posted.
In a MySpace profile, Loughner said “My favorite interest was reading, and I studied grammar. Conscience dreams were a great study in college.”
He lists among his favorite books “Mein Kampf” and “The Communist Manifesto”. But he also includes a broad variety of other titles, including: “Animal Farm,” “Brave New World,” “To Kill a Mockingbird,” and “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest”.
In another YouTube message, Loughner said: “I know who’s listening: Government Officials, and the People. Nearly all the people, who don’t know this accurate information of a new currency, aren’t aware of mind control and brainwash methods. If I have my civil rights, then this message wouldn’t have happen.”
“In conclusion, my ambition – is for informing literate dreamers about a new currency; in a few days, you know I’m conscience dreaming! Thank you!”
In a YouTube video dated Dec. 15, titled “Introduction: Jared Loughner” the accused gunman describes himself as a U.S. military recruit who had applied to join the Army. The Army, however, said it rejected Lougher as a recruit in 2008.
In the video, Loughner makes a rambling mention of “MEPS in Phoenix” a reference to the Military Entrance Processing Station in the state capital that all Arizona recruits from every branch of service pass through before leaving for basic training.
“Every United States military recruit at MEPS in Phoenix is receiving one mini bible before the tests,” it said. “Jared Loughner is a United States military recruit at MEPS in Phoenix. Therefore, Jared Loughner is receiving one mini bible before the tests.
“I didn’t write a belief on my Army application and the recruiter wrote on the application: None.”
First Sgt. Brian Homme, who oversees Army recruiting in Tucson, said Loughner applied to enlist in December 2008 and was sent to Phoenix to take a test and physical. But “he was found to be unqualified so he never joined the Army,” Homme said.
He declined to say why Loughner was rejected, citing confidentiality laws.
Good grief, what kind of guy lists Mein Kampf and The Communist Manifesto as their favorite books? To say you’ve read them is one thing, but single them out as favorites?
I'm one of Jared Loughner's FAVORITE books!
So, we have his YouTube account, his web postings, the word of people who knew him, and his history, and nothing about him being a conservative or a member of the Tea Party. These tweets are from someone who knew Jared Loughner.
What he comes off as, is a Leftist of the punk-anarchist-pseudo-intellectual sort. But, again, I’ll leave his fevered brain to others to diagnose.
It is the media, and the Liberal Left where the real lunacy lies. We have so-called mainstream, establishment Democrats running to the mike and tapping away at their keyboards accusing conservatives of a vile crime before they knew a single fact in the case. This is what is most disturbing.
The Left is behind most all the non-Islamic violence going on in the world. Just glance across the pond to Europe, where armies of Jared Loughner-types have been rampaging in the streets for the past year. The American Left is no different.
Sweet Christina Taylor Greene, may she rest in peace.
As America wrestles with this latest trauma, may we not forget the other victims of this lunatic’s hand. Real people with real lives were demolished in an instant by a deranged 22 year-old looking for attention, or G-d knows what.
Our prayers go out to the families of the slain. May G-d comfort them in the time of their greatest nightmare.
Miss me?
In the new normal, no one can be so disgraced that some news outlet won’t try to help him or her resuscitate his career. Disgraced Eliot Spitzer gets a TV show on CNN, and despicable Leftist, Helen Thomas, gets a new gig writing columns for The Falls Church News-Press.
Predictably, the NY Slimes refers to her belly flop into the anti-Semitic mud as “a stumble”, and are rooting for her to deliver more journalistic professionalism, like her telling Jews “to get the hell out of Palestine” and “go back to Europe.”
Helen Thomas is 90 years-old. And since it seems that old Leftist hate-mongers never die, she may well outlive her foes and reclaim her prized, front-row seat at the White House press meetings in the end. In the new normal, hating Israel and coddling Palestinians will always be seen as a resume enhancer.
______________________________
Helen Thomas, After a Stumble, Returns as Columnist
As a political reporter and columnist for a half-century, Helen Thomas witnessed her share of career crashes and rebirths in Washington. Now, seven months after being forced from her job over insensitive comments about Jews, she can add her own name to that list.
Ms. Thomas, who became one of the country’s most recognizable journalists for her irascible and tenacious presence in the White House briefing room, made her return to journalism on Thursday with a column in The Falls Church News-Press, a weekly paper based in the suburbs of the nation’s capital.
China-loving Thomas Friedman, whom history has shown as never having been right about anything, ambushed an Israeli diplomat and demonstrated what passes for journalism at the NY Slimes. Friedman and the Slimes have always had a hate-on for Israel, especially any of its right-of-center governments. The diplomat said he was “shocked” by the attack. I’m shocked that he was shocked.
______________________________
From Israel Matzav
A senior official from the Israeli consulate in New York City was ‘ambushed‘ by members of the New York Times editorial staff – including Tom Friedman – in what was supposed to be an off the record friendly chat (Hat Tip: Eliyahu P).
As the meeting started, the Times editors – most of them Jews, and one of them a former Israeli – began to attack the Israeli diplomat, and refused to give him even a moment to respond.
They blamed Israel for everything, the diplomat told Israel Today.
The Times editors insisted the breakdown of the peace process was Israel’s fault, that the lack of peace was Israel’s fault, and were adamant that Israel had given nothing to the Palestinians. They accused Israel of being an extremist and racist state, and blasted the diplomat for Israel’s “ill-treatment” of President Barack Obama.
In short, the Times staff informed the Israeli in no uncertain terms that they were sick of his country.
The diplomat told us he was shocked by the attack. He tried to respond, but the Times editors were not interested in hearing his arguments.
“I asked them,” said the diplomat, “We haven’t given the Palestinians anything? How can you say that? Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu broke with his party platform and implemented a 10-month Jewish building freeze, and what did we get in return? More Palestinian refusal to negotiate.”
According to the Israeli, the Times editors responded: “Yes, yes. Of course you are going to start telling us about how Israel’s security needs are not being met. You just don’t get it that we are sick of hearing about that.”
There is little doubt that this ambush was led by Friedman, whose hostility toward Israel in his recent columns has surprised even his liberal friends in the Jewish state.
