You will like this.
Netanyahu to ‘New York Times’: Take a hike (h/t @allahpundit):
Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu is refusing to pen an op-ed piece for The New York Times, signaling the degree to which he is fed up with the influential newspaper’s editorial policy on Israel.
In a letter to the Times obtained by The Jerusalem Post on Thursday, Netanyahu’s senior adviser Ron Dermer – in response to the paper’s request that Netanyahu write an op-ed – wrote that the prime minister would “respectfully decline.”
Dermer made clear that this had much to do with the fact that 19 of the paper’s 20 op-ed pieces on Israel since September were negative.
Ironically, the one positive piece was written by Richard Goldstone – chairman of the UN’s Goldstone Commission Report – defending Israel against charges of apartheid.
“We wouldn’t want to be seen as ‘Bibiwashing’ the op-ed page of The New York Times,” Dermer said, in reference to a piece called “Israel and Pinkwashing” from November. In that piece, a City University of New York humanities professor lambasted Israel for, as Dermer wrote, “having the temerity to champion its record on gay rights.”
That piece, he wrote, “set a new bar that will be hard for you to lower in the future.”
Dermer’s letter came a day after NYT columnist Thomas Friedman wrote that the resounding ovation Netanyahu received in Congress when he spoke there in May had been “bought and paid for by the Israel lobby.”
Reminds me of this headline
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Comments
Are we absolutely sure that Netanyahu was not born in Hawaii? 😉
Can we make Bibi an American citizen by acclamation?
If he were running for president here, I’d vote for him in a New York minute.
As much as I love Bibi, this is a mistake. Israel needs to engage the liberal press, unfortunately.
Surely there is some other liberal press organ than would welcome an op-ed by Bibi. Why not make the kiss-off of the NYT obvious to all? What will the Times do – make their op-eds even more anti-Israel? /s
The complete letter is at http://bigjournalism.com/tag/benjamin-netanyahu/ by Joel Pollak
Read the total letter and see if it changes your mind. Do you know that all of the press in Israel is leftist? Channel 2 is public television but Channel 10 is always attacking Netanyahu’s government. He has enough poop from Channel 10(attacking his wife Sarah, of all things) and the leftist Israeli newspapers, why should he lower his position to attack dogs at NYT when this letter effectively bitchslaps NYT like Bibi did verbally to Obama on the air? Remember that?
Oh, I agree with everything Dermer says. But practically, a lot of people get their news and opinion from the New York Times. While many are openly pro-Arab, and a greater portion leans towards the anti-Western (including the anti-Israel) side in any given discussion, but can be convince to adopt a more moderate position, or at least convinced not to take the pro-Arab one. If they read 19 articles against Israel, and 2 for it, at least they might think and do more research, rather than take the side of Israel’s enemy by default. (And given the patent ridiculousness of the anti-Israel folks’ charges, like the pinkwashing inanity reveals a 19 to 2 count wouldn’t be all bad, considering that a single Bibi article is probably more persuasive than all 19 of theirs.) There are reasonable people who read the Times. Giving up on them, which is what Bibi is doing here, doesn’t seem like it’s in Israel’s best interest.
Israel has profited from positive relations with the mainstream Western left and continues to do so. Mucking up that relationship, without a good reason for doing so, is probably a mistake.
With regard to ” Israel has profited from positive relations with the mainstream Western left ” all I can say is huh???
Maybe a “not” is missing?
So much so that he is trying to stop Channel 10 presenting any news or commentary and is refusing to give them time to get funding to continue broadcasting.
Apparently they said some nasty things about a buddy of his.
Bibi has a political spine; it enables him to stand up to those so obviously out to destroy him instead of serving at their every beck and call.
Would that some other politicians I have in mind be of a like condition.
Next he’ll be turning down afternoon tea and crumpets with Mearsheimer and Walt. Firster!
Interesting strategy trap by the NYT, if Bibi had taken the bait, the Times would have been able to “refute” any charge of anti-Semitism by in effect saying “We at the Times editorial page respect both sides of this issue. We have even had an editorial by the Israeli PM.” (Coincidently leaving out their 20:1 negative/positive editorial ratio.)
Wow. Just wow.
A man in office with a spine.
Must make those spineless wonders Obama and Sarkozy slouch a little lower.
Like poor Mr. Loopner, born without a spine.
Awesome 🙂 🙂 🙂
Good for him. I’m sure he realizes, as most of us do, that the liberal media will trash him and Israel at every opportunity. They have shown this by more or less aaying Israel does’nt have the right to defend itself. Also, who knows but what the NYT would change the op-ed to embarass Netanyahou like Kouric and Gibson did Palin. I have said ll along that Israel should ignore the chattering media that have no shame with their lies.