I often criticize the New York Times on this site, in fact I am about to get out my rusty Judy Miller popgun later for the Scott McClellan story. But today we really must celebrate the Times. Yesterday it ran Ethan Bronner's superb report on the U.S. State Department withdrawing 7 Fulbright grants to young Palestinians because the Israeli siege of Gaza won't let them go. And not just ran the story: but ran it across five colums at the top of the front page, with a huge photograph of a doelike Palestinian woman who cannot come here to study. Hearts and minds in one shot! The Israel Policy Forum promptly blasted the blockade. And now JTA is reporting that Condi Rice is looking into the outrage.
Glory be to the Times. Here is the greatest newspaper in the world using all its power to change things. I know, you say, what about reporting on cluster bombs in Lebanon or the siege of Gaza, or the widespread support for "transfer" in the Israeli polity. What about Bill Kristol and Friedman and Brooks rationalizing the cycle of violence. Patience, patience. The world is changing, and yesterday's noble decision by the Times editors was in fact licensed by us, by Jimmy Carter, by Walt and Mearsheimer, by the stirring shifting spinning tectonic plates of the discourse…
