NYT Finds a New Angle From Which to Attack Israel

By Richard N. Weltz

As if things weren't bad enough right now, today's New York Times posits a new kind of attack on the Jewish State, which it claims is in circulation among the Washington insiders.

In an article prominently placed on the front page of its Week on Review section, Helene Cooper writes (formatted as news, not opinion) that the thinking among many inside the Beltway is now that Israel's policies are harmful to US interests.

Selecting quotes carefully, she repeats opinions that try to blame Israel for Arab and Muslim enmity towards America -- or at least for preventing Obama from improving relations with the Muslim world.

But once Mr. Cordesman [a foreign policy wonk being quoted] had dispensed with what in the newspaper world is called the "to-be-sure" paragraphs, he laid out a dispassionate argument that has gained increased traction in Washington -- both inside the Obama administration (including the Pentagon, White House and State Department) and outside, during forums, policy breakfasts, even a seder in Bethesda. Recent Israeli governments, particularly the one led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Mr. Cordesman argued, have ignored the national security concerns of its biggest benefactor, the United States, and instead have taken steps that damage American interests abroad.

Furthermore, Cooper makes a point of noting, "The list of recent moves by the Netanyahu government that potentially threaten American interests has grown steadily, many foreign policy experts argue."

So, the new line, as Cooper would like you to believe -- or perhaps she's suggesting it as the Times's contribution to the Obama administration's thought processes, is that by stubbornly insisting on self-defense and survival, the Netanyahu government (Israel's evil counterpart to George W. Bush) is damaging the interests of the United States.

What nonsense. I've prayed alongside the "hawk" Netanyahu at my own congregation on Rosh Hashanah; and I've had the privilege of breaking the Yom Kippur fast privately with the "dove" Ehud Barak. When these two come together -- as they have -- you can sure that Israel's policies will be, overall, directed by intelligence and necessity, for the survival of Israel as an independent Jewish state; and this is inherently in America's interests.

Once again, the Gray Lady, whose publisher walked away from his religion, is trying to walk away from his former people.

Oh, and by the way, in the same section of the same edition, there's an op-ed, entitled "Chosen But Not Special" a dismaying attack on the Jewish sense of exceptionalism by novelist Michael Chabon, whose reasoning is as twisted or tortuous as the plots and prose of his novels.