- While much of the world sees Mideast conflict through
Palestinian eyes, in America, Israel's view prevails...
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- March 28 - Tragedy has struck once again in the Israeli
city of Netanya, killing at last count 20 innocents and wounding more than
130 people, as the Arab League meets amidst controversy and confusion in
Beirut, with Yasser Arafat still trapped in Ramallah, and President Mubarak
of Egypt and King Abdullah of Jordan staying home in protest. Only the
most optimistic among us can muster much hope for an end to the murderous
cycle currently underway in the Holy Land.
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- For reasons of religion, politics, history and genuine
conviction the punditocracy debate of the Middle East in America is
dominated
by people who cannot imagine criticizing Israel.
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- Stepping back from the horrific headlines of the day,
it is clear that the conflict over Israel/Palestine is all about competing
narratives. Both sides inflict inhuman cruelties on one another. Both sides
blame the other for forcing them to do so. The Israelis kill far more
Palestinians
than vice-versa, with far more deadly and effective weapons; but the
Palestinians,
unlike the Israelis, deliberately target innocents for murder. The Israelis
say the conflict will end when the Palestinians renounce their commitment
to terrorism and accept Israel's "right to existence." The
Palestinians
claim it will end when Israel ends its illegal occupation of Palestinian
lands and compensates the millions of refugees it created, either by
returning
them to their homes or giving them the funds necessary to build new
ones.
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- A TALE OF TWO STORIES
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- In most of the world, it is the Palestinian narrative
of a dispossessed people that dominates. In the United States, however,
the narrative that dominates is Israel's: a democracy under constant siege.
Europeans and other Palestinian partisans point to the fact that the Israel
lobby in America is one of the strongest anywhere, and Jewish individuals
and organizations give millions of dollars to political candidates in order
to reward pro-Israel policies and punish those who support the
Palestinians.
Another reason, however, is the near-complete domination by pro-Israel
partisans of the punditocracy discourse.
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- Some Jewish groups in America like to harass news
organizations
like The Washington Post or National Public Radio for what they believe
to be coverage insufficiently sympathetic to Israel's plight. But even
Ariel Sharon and Benjamin Netanyahu would not be able to complain about
the level of support their actions typically receive from the members of
the punditocracy.
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- For reasons of religion, politics, history and genuine
conviction the punditocracy debate of the Middle East in America is
dominated
by people who cannot imagine criticizing Israel. The value of this legion
to the Jewish state is, for better or worse, literally incalculable,
particularly
when push - as it inevitably does in the Middle East - comes to shove.
Here's a list I made in trying to measure the immeasurable.
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- COLUMNISTS AND COMMENTATORS WHO CAN BE COUNTED UPON
TO SUPPORT ISRAEL REFLEXIVELY AND WITHOUT QUALIFICATION:
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- George Will, The Washington Post, Newsweek and ABC News
William Safire, The New York Times A.M. Rosenthal, The New York Daily News,
formerly Executive Editor of and later columnist for, The New York Times,
Charles Krauthammer, The Washington Post, PBS, Time, and The Weekly
Standard,
formerly of the New Republic. Michael Kelly, The Washington Post, The
Atlantic
Monthly, National Journal, and MSNBC.com, formerly of The New Republic
and The New Yorker. Lally Weymouth, The Washington Post and Newsweek Martin
Peretz, The New Republic, Daniel Pipes, The New York Post Andrea Peyser,
The New York Post Dick Morris, The New York Post Lawrence Kaplan, The New
Republic William Bennett, CNN William Kristol, The Washington Post, the
Weekly Standard, Fox News, formerly of ABC News Robert Kagan, The
Washington
Post and The Weekly Standard, Mortimer Zuckerman, US News and World Report
(Zuckerman is also Chairman of Conference of Presidents of Major American
Jewish Organizations ). David Gelertner, The Weekly Standard John
Podhoretz,
The New York Post and The Weekly Standard Mona Charen, The Washington Times
Morton Kondracke, Roll Call, Fox News formerly of The McLaughlin Group,
The New Republic and PBS Fred Barnes, The Weekly Standard, Fox News,
formerly
of The New Republic, The McLaughlin Group, and The Baltimore Sun Sid Zion,
The New York Post, The New York Daily News, Yossi Klein Halevi The New
Republic, Sidney Zion, The New York Post, formerly of The New York Daily
News Norman Podhoretz, Commentary, Jonah Goldberg, National Review and
CNN Laura Ingraham, CNN, formerly of MSNBC and CBS News Jeff Jacoby, The
Boston Globe Rich Lowry, National Review Andrew Sullivan, The New Republic
Seth Lipsky, The Wall Street Journal and The New York Sun, formerly of
the Jewish Forward Irving Kristol, The Public Interest, The National
Interest
and The Wall Street Journal Editorial Page Chris Matthews, MSNBC Allan
Keyes, MSNBC, WorldNetDaily.com Brit Hume, Fox News John Leo, US News and
World Report Robert Bartley, The Wall Street Journal Editorial Page John
Fund, The Wall Street Journal OpinionJournal, formerly of The Wall Street
Journal Editorial Page Peggy Noonan, The Wall Street Journal Editorial
Page, Ben Wattenberg, The Washington Times, PBS Tony Snow, Washington Times
and Fox News Lawrence Kudlow, National Review and CNBC Alan Dershowitz,
Boston Herald, Washington Times David Horowitz, Frontpage.com Jacob
Heilbrun,
The Los Angeles Times Thomas Sowell, Washington Times Frank Gaffney Jr,
Washington Times Emmett Tyrell, American Spectator and New York Sun Cal
Thomas, Washington Times Oliver North, Washington Times and Fox News,
formerly
of MSNBC Michael Ledeen, Jewish World Review William F. Buckley, National
Review Bill O'Reilly, Fox News Paul Greenberg, Arkansas Democrat-Gazette,
L. Brent Bozell, Washington Times Todd Lindberg, Washington Times Michael
Barone, US News and World Report and The McLaughlin Group Ann Coulter,
Human Events, Linda Chavez, Creators Syndicate Cathy Young, Reason Magazine
Uri Dan, New York Post Dr. Laura Schlessinger, morality maven Rush
Limbaugh,
radio host
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- PUBLICATIONS THAT, FOR REASONS OF OWNER OR EDITORSHIP
CAN BE COUNTED UPON TO SUPPORT ISRAEL REFLEXIVELY AND WITHOUT
QUALIFICATION:
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- The New Republic (Martin Peretz, Michael Steinhardt,
Roger Hertog, Owners) Commentary (American Jewish Committee, Owner) US
News and World Report (Mortimer Zuckerman, Owner) The New York Daily News
(Mortimer Zuckerman, Owner) The New York Post (Rupert Murdoch, Owner) The
Weekly Standard (Rupert Murdoch, Owner) The Wall Street Journal Editorial
Page (Peter Kann, Editor) The Atlantic Monthly (Michael Kelly,
Editor)
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- COLUMNISTS LIKELY TO CRITICIZE BOTH ISRAEL AND THE
PALESTINIANS, BUT VIEW THEMSELVES TO BE CRITICALLY SUPPORTERS OF ISRAEL,
AND ULTIMATELY, WOULD SUPPORT ISRAELI SECURITY OVER PALESTINIAN
RIGHTS:
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- Thomas Friedman, The New York Times, Richard Cohen, The
Washington Post and New York Daily News Avishai Margolit, The New York
Review of Books David Remnick, The New Yorker Eric Alterman, The Nation
and MSNBC.com The New York Times Editorial Board The Washington Post
Editorial
Board
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- COLUMNISTS LIKELY TO BE REFLEXIVELY ANTI-ISRAEL AND/OR
PRO-PALESTINIAN REGARDLESS OF CIRCUMSTANCE:
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- Robert Novak, The Washington Post Pat Buchanan,
WorldNetDaily.com,
formerly of The Washington Times and CNN. Alexander Cockburn, The Nation
and New York Press Christopher Hitchens, The Nation and Vanity Fair Edward
Said, The Nation
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- HOW FRIENDS CAN BEST HELP
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- As can be seen from this list of lists, the entire
anti-Israel
contingent of the punditocracy does not add up to a single George Will
or William Safire, much less a Wall Street Journal or US News. It remains
to be seen whether unqualified support for all of Israel's actions is
really
in that tortured nation's best interest in the long run. Sometimes the
bravest and most valuable advice a trusted friend can give is:
"STOP."
Someone is going to have to stop first if this unending catastrophe is
ever to end.
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- Eric Alterman is a columnist for The Nation and a regular
contributor to MSNBC.com.
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- http://www.msnbc.com/news/730905.asp?0si=-#BODY
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