In The New Republic, Leon Wieseltier writes:
A few days ago a friend of mine published a miserable piece on a matter
about which I care deeply, and I am of a mind to be withering about it.
The decline of The New York Times remains worthy of comment,
But Wieseltier chooses discretion. Because he's just back from Jerusalem, which bathed his spirit. I think the reference is transparent; he means Jeffrey Goldberg's gotterdamerung moment in the New York Times, in which he moved to the Walt and Mearsheimer position re The Israel Lobby. I said before that I think Goldberg is both opportunistic and brave–brave because he obviously spent some personal capital. And here, I reckon, is evidence that he has damaged an important friendship… This is to be expected. As Henry Siegman has pointed out ("Most of his brothers and sisters are so angered with his stance that he cannot discuss the issue with them"), as my Brooklyn friends pointed out, Jewish families are riven by Israel's inhuman treatment of Palestinians.
Marty Peretz has less impulse control than Wieseltier. Marty, what's the story?
