Podcast: The Rise of Antisemitism on American Campuses

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What's Wrong with The New York Times

I'm really getting sick and tired of The New York Times.  I first began getting more than irritated with the newspaper of record when it over-reported the non-story about Hillary Clinton's emails, on the eve of the 2016 election.   I won't go into all the poor reporting I've noticed in their pages since then.

But now there's something much worse than all of that.  When word first came in about the terrible loss of human life caused by the rocket or bomb exploding in the courtyard of the Palestinian hospital yesterday, the NY Times ran a headline that there was massive outrage in the Middle East (correct) about the attack made by Israel, according to the Palestinians.  The second part of that headline was technically correct -- the Palestinians thought and still think that an Israeli bomb caused the damage -- but it was very misleading, for two reasons.  First, the "according to the Palestinians" came at the end of the headline, and it's a well-known fact that readers of news often don't get to the end of a long headline.  Further, there should have been a prominent indication in the headline that Israel was denying that they were responsible for the horror in the courtyard, and indeed an Hamas-related terrorist group launched the rocket.  The Times has since removed the misleading headline, but the damage was already done.

And today, we have news that US intelligence has independently confirmed the Israeli explanation, based in large part on US infrared sensors that show where the rocket that caused the deadly damage originated.  Jeremy Bash on MSNBC has justly lambasted the lame headlines that stirred so much anger at Israel.  Accurate reporting, including accurately descriptive headlines, is always important.  But never more so than in the tinderbox that the Middle East has become in the aftermath of the monstrous Hamas attacks, and the increasing number of human lives at stake.

Is It Possible to Eradicate Hate?

A friend on Facebook asked me if it's possible to eradicate hate?

This was my answer: It's not possible to eradicate hate. But it's necessary to try to eradicate this particularly depraved rendition of hate that is Hamas. Just as was done with Isis and Hitler's Nazis. In both cases, the eradication was not complete, but surely the world was and is better without them.

I'll add here:  In both cases, the destruction of ISIS and Hitler's Nazi regime also resulted in the death of innocent people.  This opinion piece in The New York Times by David French, What It Would Mean to Treat Hamas Like Isis? explains why that loss of innocent life happens, and why it's possible to limit that loss of life but never prevent it entirely.  French is a veteran of Operation Iraqi Freedom.  He also thinks that the loss of innocent life in the attempt to destroy Hamas could well be less than what happened with ISIS but still unavoidable.

Hamas did unimaginably horrible things last week and set in motion a horrible situation with excruciating choices for Israel.  Not only does Israel not want to harm innocent people, surely the last thing Israel wants now is to be responsible for the loss of more Israeli people.  But Hamas took hostages, and though all sane and decent people hope all the hostages will be freed, it's clear that they will be endangered by whatever military action Israel takes in Gaza.  

Amidst this hellish situation, Israel has even managed to take some humanitarian actions.  US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan told CNN a few hours ago that Israel has turned the water back on in southern Gaza.  I don't know any more than you about how the Israeli campaign against Hamas will proceed.  But I am hopeful that Israel will do everything in its power to minimize the loss of innocent life as it seeks to make sure that Hamas and its hate will never destroy an innocent life again.