(Algemeiner) Ira Stoll - New York Times columnist Tom Friedman's post-Israeli election column, "The Israel We Knew Is Gone," is factually inaccurate. Writing about Bezalel Smotrich and Itamar Ben-Gvir, Friedman says that Netanyahu had never before brought such elements "into his ruling faction or cabinet." In fact, Smotrich was Minister of Transport in Netanyahu's government from 2019 to 2020. The sky did not fall. Friedman and the New York Times have been proclaiming the death of the Israel they supposedly once loved for forty years now. Friedman writes basically the same column after every major or minor news development in Israel. He predicts that this time this latest event is going to lead the world and American Jewry to shun Israel. Each time, Friedman's fear turns out to be wrong. It's actually a relief to read Friedman with the knowledge that all the dire things he predicts: "profound effect on U.S.-Israel relations" or an erosion of "bipartisan support in Washington," are figments of his hyperactive imagination rather than reflecting a nuanced understanding of Israeli reality.
2022-11-10 00:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive