The New York Times And Reform Zionism

The New York Times is the renowned paper of record in America.  Yet it is consistently anti -Israeli .  That is a problem.

Those of us who consider ourselves Reform Zionists do not shrink from criticizing the Israeli government when it conducts itself badly.  In my last blog post, I described how the Netanyahu government has failed to protect Palestinian farmers from settler violence, Arab bus drivers from right wing harassment, and local peaceful supporters of reconciliation from physical attacks by Likud members and others.

Those of us in the World Union for Progressive Judaism, spanning six continents and more than a thousand  congregations, remain committed to a vision of a pluralistic, democratic Israel.  We share this vision with many in Israel whose views rarely  get reported in the American press.

Committed to  that vision, we reject efforts by the New York Times and others to depict Israel solely as the neighborhood bully while mostly ignoring or downplaying the constantly genocidal forces of Hamas and Hezbollah, and the widespread support, even now, among Palestinians for the Oct. 7 horrendous massacre as surveyed by the leading pollster of Palestinian society, Dr. Khalil Shikaki.

The Times front page December 2 headline shouts “What Imperial Israel means for the Middle East.”  The subhead accuses Israel of taking down enemies at will.  It is silent about the hatred and intransigence of Israel’s enemies as it describes the destruction of a car attacked by an Israel drone in Lebanon on an otherwise beautiful day.  It features a four column full color picture of a child killed in an Israeli drone attack.  Yet it does not make any real effort to explain how the war came to be.

To justify its anti Israel anti Zionist headline, the Times  lies about the cause of the conflict in Lebanon.  It refers to “the war that spilled into Lebanon after the October 7 Hamas attack on Israel.”  That is a complete distortion.  The war did not spill into Lebanon by some mysterious force.

Rather, Hezbollah, doing Iran’s bidding, ruthlessly and viciously attacked northern Israel on October 8 even before Israel began operating in Gaza.  A hundred thousand Israelis  became internal displacees when their homes, towns and villages became uninhabitable because of these vicious and unprovoked attacks. The peace among the Lebanon Israel borders was not shattered by Israel, which was consumed at the time with rescuing its soldiers and civilians murdered, tortured and kidnapped in the Hamas invasion from Gaza.

Instead, showing no mercy, Hezbollah brought the war to the North which would otherwise have been fairly quiet.  There is no proof whatsoever that the Netanyahu government, under attack for its failure to defend Gaza, initiated hostilities along the Lebanese border.

For the Times to suggest that the northern conflict resulted from misconduct by both sides is a travesty.  For it to sensationalize its story with the sad and unsettling tale of a destructive car bombing and the huge color picture of a young girl killed by an Israeli bomb  falsely makes Israel the sole perpetrator of deaths that resulted from Hezbollah’s genocidal, hateful decision to make war on Israel.

Nowhere does the Times even hint the Hezbollah  bears primary responsibility for the northern war.  Its reporter discusses a “morass of mistrust” in the area.  He sets forth quotes about Israeli aggression; these quotes are absurd under the circumstances.

It is not even handed to ignore the truth.  The reporter, like so many others, remains willfully blind to the depth of hatred of Israel’s neighbors.  They treat haters like Hezbollah and Hamas as normal political actors.  They fail to understand them because nothing in recent Western experience given them insight into what confronts Israel.  Neighbors who wish only its destruction and act on that wish.

As a result, only Israel’s sins get any coverage and the horrors of Hezbollah and Hamas receive little attention.  Thus, we have a front-page picture of a poor child hit by a drone, an awful event, but the drama of a hundred thousand families being displaced gets scant mention and no picture.

No wonder public opinion in the West has become so skewed against Israel.  If the New York Times can botch coverage so badly, is it any wonder that Israel hasbecome such a maligned country.  Further, coverage from places like the Times only encourages Hezbollah and Hamas to remain intransigent while influencing the Netanyahu supporters to do likewise.

There is a way out.  Honest reporting that covers both sides. Remember these wars were started by entities that have the paramount objective of genocide against 7 million Jewish Israelis and act towards that end. Cover Israeli misdeeds for sure, and show the coffins, but spend as much time, for instance, in reporting how much civilians are used by Hamas in particular as pawns while it conducts attacks on Israel from tunnels that it deliberately places under civilian facilities.  The Western media do not generally report on something that is immediately evident to any visitor to Israel, that the October 7th attacks have deeply traumatized Israelis, who lost family and friends on October 7, 2023 and have frequently had to evacuate their homes or hide in shelters from relentless Hamas and Hezbollah attacks that the Western press largely ignores.

Such reporting would undermine the arrogance of the anti-Semitic and anti-Israel advocates who so much influence Western reporting.  It would also lend strength to those Israelis who are trying to implement the Israeli founders’ vision of a democratic and pluralistic Israeli society.

With this change, maybe peace could occur.  There is more to Israel than the Netanyahu government and there is far more to this war than crimes committed by him and misdeeds of Israel.