When I was growing up, it mattered what was in Time magazine. Today, the idea of a news magazine is so archaic that Time is now just an outlet for liberal opinion. Even so, it horrifies me to see an article like the one that Time put out yesterday called "Benjamin Netanyahu's Disgrace in Victory" by Joe Klein. Klein's thesis of the article is that Netanyahu won because he ran as a racist. It is a false charge that permeates so much of the coverage of the Israeli results. In Time, as in most other places in the mainstream media, the author does not even bother to produce examples of anything that Netanyahu did or said that could be called racist. They just level the charge and then denounce the prime minister and, indeed, the entire Israeli nation.
I looked carefully at Klein's disgusting and outrageous column to see what it was that Netanyahu had done that gave rise to such hatred by Klein that he would participate in the creation of a Nazi style big lie. Klein mentions that some years ago, he was crossing a checkpoint on the way from Bethlehem to Jerusalem and the Israeli border guard called the Arabs "animals". Klein also mentions that during the war in 1948 when the new and tiny state of Israel was defending itself against the armies of five Arab countries that had invaded, there were instances where the Arabs suffered major civilian casualties during attacks on strategic positions. Klein calls these massacres, but the claim has been so discredited over the years that one would think that even Joe Klein and Time would be embarrassed to mention it. So that's it. Netanyahu is racist because some border guard said something to Klein a few years ago and there were Palestinians killed during the war about seventy years ago.
Another way to look at this is that Joe Klein has no shame. It is one thing to argue a point. Often, political arguments can get carried away a bit because of exaggeration. There has to be some kernel of truth to the argument, though. It has to be based in reality. It cannot simply be completely made up. But that is a standard that the American left no longer follows. Just think about the last presidential campaign. Harry Reid told America that Mitt Romney had not filed tax returns for ten years. Reid knew that was false, but he accused Romney of a federal crime anyway. Then there was the silly charge that the Republicans wanted to limit availability of birth control as part of the War on Women. How many times did you hear that? My college age daughter told me that she could not vote for Romney because she wanted women to have birth control remain available. The lie influenced her. And how often have we been told that every criticism of Obama or Eric Holder or any other African American in the administration is based upon racism. You know; the Obamacare website was a disaster, but any commentary on it was racist. Or how about this one: the only reason that anyone thinks that Obama blew the American withdrawal from Iraq is racism; ISIS has nothing to do with it. So all Joe Klein is trying to do is apply the standards of the American left to the discussion of Israel.
The reality is that using the big lie tactic in the way Klein is doing is a very dangerous way to go. America and Israel are supposed to be friends. Now, however, Obama and his supporters seem to care more about being nice to Iran (which has literally killed thousands of Americans over the years) than to Israel, our friend. Klein says Israel is not truly democratic because an election in which everyone could vote chose a candidate that he and Obama do not like. On the other hand, in Iran, there are hundreds of thousands or millions without rights. Indeed, if Klein lived in Iran, he would likely be executed just because of who he is. Maybe he should visit Teheran and find out.
I looked carefully at Klein's disgusting and outrageous column to see what it was that Netanyahu had done that gave rise to such hatred by Klein that he would participate in the creation of a Nazi style big lie. Klein mentions that some years ago, he was crossing a checkpoint on the way from Bethlehem to Jerusalem and the Israeli border guard called the Arabs "animals". Klein also mentions that during the war in 1948 when the new and tiny state of Israel was defending itself against the armies of five Arab countries that had invaded, there were instances where the Arabs suffered major civilian casualties during attacks on strategic positions. Klein calls these massacres, but the claim has been so discredited over the years that one would think that even Joe Klein and Time would be embarrassed to mention it. So that's it. Netanyahu is racist because some border guard said something to Klein a few years ago and there were Palestinians killed during the war about seventy years ago.
Another way to look at this is that Joe Klein has no shame. It is one thing to argue a point. Often, political arguments can get carried away a bit because of exaggeration. There has to be some kernel of truth to the argument, though. It has to be based in reality. It cannot simply be completely made up. But that is a standard that the American left no longer follows. Just think about the last presidential campaign. Harry Reid told America that Mitt Romney had not filed tax returns for ten years. Reid knew that was false, but he accused Romney of a federal crime anyway. Then there was the silly charge that the Republicans wanted to limit availability of birth control as part of the War on Women. How many times did you hear that? My college age daughter told me that she could not vote for Romney because she wanted women to have birth control remain available. The lie influenced her. And how often have we been told that every criticism of Obama or Eric Holder or any other African American in the administration is based upon racism. You know; the Obamacare website was a disaster, but any commentary on it was racist. Or how about this one: the only reason that anyone thinks that Obama blew the American withdrawal from Iraq is racism; ISIS has nothing to do with it. So all Joe Klein is trying to do is apply the standards of the American left to the discussion of Israel.
The reality is that using the big lie tactic in the way Klein is doing is a very dangerous way to go. America and Israel are supposed to be friends. Now, however, Obama and his supporters seem to care more about being nice to Iran (which has literally killed thousands of Americans over the years) than to Israel, our friend. Klein says Israel is not truly democratic because an election in which everyone could vote chose a candidate that he and Obama do not like. On the other hand, in Iran, there are hundreds of thousands or millions without rights. Indeed, if Klein lived in Iran, he would likely be executed just because of who he is. Maybe he should visit Teheran and find out.
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