THE SPINE MARCH 2, 2010
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Hardly a day goes by that the Financial Times doesn’t do a hit job on Israel. The otherwise sober pink sheet has such an obsession with the Jewish state that I’ve come to wonder what its views were on the rescue of Jewish children into England during the Nazi onslaught on them and on their parents.
Tobias Buck is virtually on call full time to twist Israeli reality into his own jaundiced view of Zionism. Last week in the FT, he came to conclusions about Israel’s diplomatic isolation which he himself had trumpeted. Since Buck is the paper’s Israel correspondent, all you have to do is pick up the daily or log on to its web site, and you’re almost sure to find the same story he wrote yesterday or last week and will surely write tomorrow.
Sometimes the FT sinks so low that it will even ask Henry Siegman, a dreary old Jewish bureaucrat who found glory in being asked to speak at gentile soirees and left-wing “getting-to-yes” talkfests, to write. So, on the very same day, Siegman picked up Buck’s theme and argued that “for Israel, defiance comes at the cost of legitimacy.”
Both of them wrote on the occasion of the killing--very plausibly by the Mossad--of a Hamas terrorist. He was smothered in his hotel room a month ago. But the anti-Israel crowd can’t let up. And the FT has dismissed his importance by calling him “a Hamas gun-runner in Dubai.” This is so far from the truth that it is actually laughable. He was a murderer, a certified murderer, and is an official of the far-flung Hamas movement, which specializes in the murder of Israelis. He is more than a gun-runner. But even gun- running for Hamas, recipient of military hardware from Iran and Syria, cannot be seen with indifference by Jerusalem.
Which brings me to another FT habit that I’ve written about before. The paper simply refuses to name Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. But it’s much worse than that. The Financial Times writes about the “government in Tel Aviv.’ This is not just weird. It is a lie. The FT wants to rewrite the history of the Middle East. If it can’t tell the truth about a simple geographical fact, on what, pray tell, can it be trusted?
12 comments
FT's hatred of Israel is part of a borader British antisemitism. You can read this is most of their left wing intellectual magazines such as The Statesman as well as the London Review of Books. At times these publications resemble Der Sturmer. See for example: http://blog.z-word.com/2010/02/john-pilger-and-the-enabling-of-antisemitism/
- jdyer
March 3, 2010 at 7:12am
Has there been any polling in Europe (or the US) on reaction to the killing?
- scottbirnba
March 3, 2010 at 12:10pm
A recent poll on support for Israel has shown that that countries favorability is at an all time high in the US. I don't know of any poll on the killing of the Hamas operative. http://www.ajc.org/site/apps/nlnet/content2.aspx?c=ijITI2PHKoG&b=2818295&content_id=%7BD651AE3D-30B6-4802-A7D0-C50330440077%7D¬oc=1 I suspect that in Europe the opposite is the case and given that continents Jewish problem it's not surprising.
- jdyer
March 3, 2010 at 4:29pm
In Britain, the anti-Israel hysteria is a perfect storm because of a now-potent combination of (1) leftist bigotry and (2) Islamic bigotry against a backdrop of (3) upper-class social bigotry from above (fear of Jewish economic and intellectual competition), (4) populist resentment of the Jewish bourgeoisie from below, (5) old-fashioned Anglican supersessionist bigotry, and (6) nationalist bigotry ("British Jews are never British enough"). I remember The Economist, exasperated with America's support for Israel, ascribing it to America's "Old Testament Protestantism". Unfortunately, in this instance, we share the same language with the British and British "quality" news media are invading the United States. Since loyal Jews and other friends of Israel are not heard above the din in Britain, we need to challenge the British media as much as possible. Too many people here are impressed with anything, no matter how ridiculous, expressed with a British accent.
- amidut
March 3, 2010 at 6:07pm
"Its the hit bird that flutters" is an old saying here in the South. And Peretz and the correspondents above are squealing and fluttering today First we have British and Irish resentment at having the identities of citizens of their countries stolen by a supposedly friendly state to facilitate a murder by that state to complain about.The American silence on that subject originates in the ownership of American Middle Eastern policy by AIPAC et.al.American"policy"toward Israel increasingly reminds one of those dogs who, to the delight of all, can simultaneously crawl on their bellies and wag their tails.Then we have the general MP sermon to the effect Israel is, or should be, exempt from any criticism. My policy is "a plague on both your houses'. The Arabs and Israelis deserve each other.
- kaboom
March 3, 2010 at 6:41pm
"Its the hit bird that flutters" is an old saying here in the South. And Peretz and the correspondents above are squealing and fluttering today First we have British and Irish resentment at having the identities of citizens of their countries stolen by a supposedly friendly state to facilitate a murder by that state to complain about.The American silence on that subject originates in the ownership of American Middle Eastern policy by AIPAC et.al.American"policy"toward Israel increasingly reminds one of those dogs who, to the delight of all, can simultaneously crawl on their bellies and wag their tails.Then we have the general MP sermon to the effect Israel is, or should be, exempt from any criticism. My policy is "a plague on both your houses'. The Arabs and Israelis deserve each other.
- kaboom
March 3, 2010 at 6:42pm
Haven't heard from Kaboom in a long time. Someone let her out of the looney farm. "The American silence on that subject originates in the ownership of American Middle Eastern policy by AIPAC et.al.American"policy"toward Israel increasingly reminds one of those dogs who, to the delight of all, can simultaneously crawl on their bellies and wag their tails." Looks like she is quoting David Duke again, or is it merely Mearshimer and Co.?
- jdyer
March 3, 2010 at 7:00pm
This should make Kabbom's day. It'll probably send him back to the funny farm: "In U.S., Canada Places First in Image Contest; Iran Last Favorable views of Russia, Palestinian Authority up slightly; views of Iraq down by Lydia Saad PRINCETON, NJ -- Americans' perceptions of 20 nations that figure prominently in the news or U.S. foreign policy held quite steady in the first year of the Obama administration. Canada retained its top position in Gallup's annual country ratings, with 90% of Americans viewing it favorably, unchanged from 2009. Iran continues to rank last, with 10% this year. Eight of the countries rated in this year's World Affairs survey are viewed favorably by a majority of Americans. Great Britain nearly matches Canada in favorability, while smaller majorities hold positive views of Germany, Japan, Israel, India, France, and Egypt. Mexico and Russia are both about as likely to be viewed unfavorably as favorably, while 10 countries are generally viewed unfavorably." http://www.gallup.com/poll/126116/Canada-Places-First-Image-Contest-Iran-Last.aspx?version=print
- jdyer
March 3, 2010 at 7:06pm
With Kaboom it's hard to know if it's "he or she."
- jdyer
March 3, 2010 at 7:08pm
According to Hamas, it's the Arabs what did it: http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1146944.html "A preliminary investigation conducted by Hamas suggests that the assassination of one of its officials in Dubai last month was likely carried out by agents of an Arab government, and not by Israel's Mossad .."
- noga1
March 4, 2010 at 11:50am
Dyer and co. are in full cry. I'm flattered to be linked with Mearsheimer but the tendency of Peretz groupies to equate political criticism of Israel with Dukism says all you need to know about them. And by the way-what is this gender obsession, lads-an advanced case of male menopause or the fact that intellectual impotence isn't your only problem.
- kaboom
March 4, 2010 at 12:39pm
The antisemite Kaboom wants to know why would anyone equate her views with those of David Duke? David Duke and Kaboom on Mearsheimer: "David Duke Claims to Be Vindicated By a Harvard Dean" http://www.nysun.com/national/david-duke-claims-to-be-vindicated-by-a-harvard/29380/ "A paper recently co-authored by the academic dean of Harvard's Kennedy School of Government about the allegedly far-reaching influence of an "Israel lobby" is winning praise from white supremacist David Duke. The Palestine Liberation Organization mission to Washington is distributing the paper, which also is being hailed by a senior member of Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood, an Islamist organization. But the paper, "The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy," by the Kennedy School's Stephen Walt and John Mearsheimer of the University of Chicago, is meeting with a more critical reception from many of those it names as part of the lobby. The 83-page "working paper" claims a network of journalists, think tanks, lobbyists, and largely Jewish officials have seized the foreign policy debate and manipulated America to invade Iraq. Included in this network, the authors say, are the editors of the New York Times, the scholars at the Brookings Institution, students at Columbia, "pro-Israel" senior officials in the executive branch, and "neoconservative gentiles" including columnist George Will. Duke, a former Louisiana state legislator and one-time Ku Klux Klan leader, called the paper "a great step forward," but he said he was "surprised" that the Kennedy School would publish the report...."
- jdyer
March 4, 2010 at 5:29pm