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Posts Tagged 'Netanyahu'
An Error in Judgment is Not An Apology
Posted on: April 29th, 2019	by Hayim Herring	No Comments
And the NYTimes's Second Attempt is Lacking
Admitting an error in judgment isn't the same as apologizing for it. I thought that the New York Times would know the difference between the two, but can it distinguish between an "error in judgment" and a simple "we are sorry?" The issue involves an anti-Semitic political cartoon with caricatures of President Donald Trump and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that appeared in its Thursday International print edition (the cartoon was later deleted).
On Saturday, the New York Times opinion Twitter page issued the following retraction:
If you search for how many other media outlets characterized the Time's retraction, you'll find that initial search results display headlines like, "New York Times apologizes…." The only problem is that there is no apology. Rather, as you've read in the retraction, the words "error in judgment," "offensive," and "anti-Semitic tropes" appear. Those statements are accurate but are self-referential. In other words, the Times is apologizing to its readers for a mistaken editorial judgment that reflects poorly on itself. A storied publication like the New York Times aspires to the highest standards of professional journalism and when it stumbles badly it's embarrassed for its bruised reputation. That's a kind way of saying that the New York Times displayed empathy for its own good reputation and not for the admittedly anti-Jewish propaganda that it disseminated and perpetuated. I did not conduct an exhaustive online search but to the credit of The Times of Israel, it notes that "the paper did not explicitly apologize for carrying the cartoon."
Here's how simply an admission of an "error in judgment" could and should have been turned into an immediate apology. "We apologize for an anti-Semitic (words in bold are mine) political cartoon in the international print edition of the New York Times…" and the rest of its belated retraction could have stood. This slight modification would have helped to restore not only the Time's desired credibility as a trusted journalistic source but its sincerity to remain so. By leading with the words, "We apologize," the Times would have shown empathy toward those who were horrified by the cartoon. That means Jews who were deeply offended by a prestigious publication giving its imprimatur to anti-Semitic tropes, and any person who is against hatred, bigotry, and all kinds of fears of "the other."
Also, note that this cartoon appeared in the Times International Edition. As a reader of the International Edition, the Times has given me a broader understanding of significant positive and negative worldwide trends, including global warming, political hotspots, oppressed people who otherwise would be anonymous, and anti-Semitism's global rise. There have been significant increases in anti-Semitic vandalism, verbal harassment, and physical assault in Eastern and Western Europe, Asia, and The Americas. For example, Great Britain's Labor Party, until recently a warm home to the majority of British Jews, has instead become an incubator and enabler of anti-Semites. In France, Alain Finkielkraut, a leading French intellectual who is Jewish recently said that he "can no longer show my face on the street" (as reported by the Jewish Telegrapic Agency on April 25, 2019)
This New York Times cartoon controversy coincided with a tragic attack in another synagogue about 25 miles north of San Diego on Saturday, the Jewish Sabbath and the last day of Passover. The attacker murdered a 60-year-old woman and wounded three others. On the last day of Passover, as with many other Jewish holy days, Jews recite a memorial service called Yizkor, during which congregants remember loved ones who have died. Future Yizkor services will add the name of another person who was murdered in a synagogue during prayer.
While Saturday's synagogue investigation is ongoing, the gunman allegedly claims to have been inspired by the massacre of 50 Muslims who were gunned down during prayer in two mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand about six weeks ago. That's why the New York Times must do far better than admit to a professional "error in judgment." It owes an apology to all who believe that people are entitled equally to practice their religion, or to practice no religion, without fear of being murdered by people who hold opposite beliefs. Hatred may initially focus on one group, but it metastasizes to include other groups at accelerating rates because of social media. So memo to The New York Times: consider that your "error in judgment" may contribute to the next fanatical fatality and apologize for the cartoon now.
Update: The NYTimes's second attempt (see @nytopinion) is overdue but still incomplete. They apologize for dropping their journalistic standards, but not to Jewish and non-Jewish readers who oppose bigoted journalism. Empathy for their audience, remorse for fueling hatred that contributes to fatalities, would be a sincere apology.
Why a Dead Iranian Deal is Worse Now Than No Deal
Posted on: August 6th, 2015	by Hayim Herring
"Iran can keep the deal or Iran can cheat on the deal. Either way it will have the bomb…." That is what Prime Minister Netanyahu said two days ago in a webcast to American Jewish leaders. By his own logic, it therefore makes no sense to lobby Congress against the Iranian accord. The terms of the agreement are vital to the security of Israel and the broader Middle East—in theory. But if you don't trust the Iranian clerics who run the country, and you believe that they will acquire nuclear weapons at any cost, then a dead deal will likely be worse than no deal for the American-Israeli relationship and for Israel.
If you assume, as I do, that Iran's clerics will "cheat on the deal," here are four additional reasons why going toe-to-toe with President Obama is a risky gambit:
1. Prime Minister Netanyahu has consistently bet on the strength of support from the Republican Party. He publicly displayed his preference for Republican candidate Mitt Romney over President Obama during the last election, and broke protocol in accepting an invitation from the Republican Speaker of the House, John Boehner, to address Congress, who had not consulted the White House. This Republican bet has not exactly created a warm, fuzzy feeling between Jerusalem and Washington, D.C. And the odds of a Republican presidency in the next election are questionable: Republicans have lost five of the six last popular votes for the presidency, and the demographics of the United States voting population present challenges for a Republican presidency.
2. Generally, American support for Israel has been bipartisan. This latest push by Israel into American politics has the potential to significantly intensify the partisan nature of support for Israel. Additionally, while Israel has not enjoyed total support from the American Jewish community in recent years, a majority of American Jews has been able to rally behind Israel in times of need. Overt Israeli lobbying in American foreign politics has driven a wedge internally between American Jews of different political viewpoints. In politics, ill will has a long shelf life. Regardless of who occupies the White House after the next election, why leave it tainted with negative feelings when it comes to support for Israel? And as the BDS movement heats up on college campuses, and European displeasure with Israel is resulting in increasingly tense trade relations and cultural exchanges, can we really afford more internal fractures?
3. "Increase the sanctions, increase the pressure"—another request from Prime Minister Netanyahu. How many deals with some European nations, China and Russia do you think are already under discussion? One can argue about the wisdom of promising to ease economic sanctions already about a year ago, but even our European allies, let alone China and Russia, have abandoned the notion of more economic sanctions.
4. On a related note, let's also remember that Pime Minister Netanyahu has been rolling back legislation requiring more Charedi (religious right wing) young men to serve in the army. If there is another war, it could require American ground troops. How will the optics look when a historic democratic ally, Israel, exempts a significant number of young men from its own military service, if U.S. troops fight in a war that many will claim Israel is responsible for? (I've already heard some people raise this issue.)
At this point in the game, as Prime Minister Netanyahu stated, the reality is that Iran will find a way to develop nuclear arms. Countries like Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Jordan and Egypt, that were expected to protest, have accepted this reality. I doubt that they have any more trust in this accord than the Israeli government and public. But their relatively quiet stance indicates that they are thinking further into the future about maintaining good relations with United States in order to combat immediate threats like ISIL and the disintegration of Syria.
Prime Minister Netanyahu was elected several times on his promise to do everything that he could to keep Iran from going nuclear. President Obama, already in his first run at the presidency, set forth a goal of re-integrating Iran into the "family of nations" (and perhaps also recalibrating the balance of power between Sunni and Shia Muslims in the Middle East). Two sovereign nations, located in different parts of the world, one a super power and the other an embattled regional power, are entitled to see the world differently. Despite vigorous efforts, the time when it might have been possible to exercise other options and bring about a different kind of agreement has passed. I believe that it's strategically smarter to put efforts now into planning for a reality of a stronger, regional and likely nuclear power that Iran will become, and the implications of that reality both for the United Sates and Israel.
The Day After BiBi
Posted on: March 4th, 2015	by Hayim Herring
Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu spoke in the Halls of Congress yesterday and the world did not end. Full disclosure: I strongly disagree with many of Bibi's policies, but I think that I understand decision. He made a leadership choice. You can almost reconstruct his internal debate on the wisdom of addressing Congress: "Does my trust in an enduring relationship with the United States override my doubt about breaching diplomatic protocol? Do I risk seriously offending some leaders of my country's staunchest ally, or am I compelled to use the world's most far-reaching microphone to broadcast a looming threat to my country and to all Western democracies?"
It's likely that approaching Israeli political elections played a role in the Prime Minister's decision to address Congress. But was his choice primarily driven by politics? Not likely, because the cost of alienating Israel's finest and consistently reliable ally is potentially steep, and it's not likely that Bibi changed many minds or captured many hearts in the Israeli electorate
What I do know is that when you reach a certain stage in life, you are obligated to tell the truth as you see it, as unpopular as it may be, using whatever means you have at your disposal. Hopefully, you do so unequivocally and respectfully (and on this point, both President Obama and Prime Minister Netanyahu crossed some fundamental lines of minimal mutual respect). That's what leaders do. That's how they get to ultimately sleep at night, knowing that they did everything within their means to highlight a potentially catastrophic error.
I was opposed to Bibi's speaking to Congress, but I don't fault him anymore than I would fault President Obama for exercising his right to pursue the truth as he sees it. I also don't think that either of these two leaders is primarily politically motivated to score points at the other's expense. They simply have unbridgeable views of the world.
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