Tuesday, September 14, 2010

Rhymes With Fagin

Writing ion the Wall Street Journal, Bret Stephens spells out much of what is not only wrong but evil with much of what passes for comment about the conflict between Israel and her neighbours - 'Rhymes With Fagin' Time magazine adds its voice to the chorus of those attempting to delegitimize the Jewish state.

Yet when it comes to scoring cheap shots against the Jewish state, Time is not the sort of magazine to allow the obvious to disturb a prejudiced hypothesis. Can the magazine point to equally pointed cover stories about internal Palestinian affairs and what, perchance, they mean for the peace process?


He concludes with this piece of writing that paints a vid picture of Israel's detractors, whether they be Age "journalists" sailing in flotillas or Jewish Chomsky wannabees:

Last week, a man named Karel de Gucht told a radio station in Belgium that the current round of Israeli-Palestinian negotiations were certain to founder upon the stubbornness of Jews. "There is indeed a belief—it's difficult to describe it otherwise—among most Jews that they are right," he explained. "So it's not easy to have, even with moderate Jews, a rational discussion about what is happening in the Middle East."

Mr. de Gucht sounds like a neo-Nazi; in fact, he is the trade commissioner of the European Union. How does a paladin like him come to say something like that? Because it's really not that far from the sorts of things that already are being written; that are, as they say, "in the air." Like the cover of a magazine that will someday cause a future editor of Time (assuming there is one) to hang her head in shame.

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