A few weeks back I wrote a letter to New York Times correspondent Isabel Kershner asking her if she is Israeli, as I’d been told. She did not respond. Well my friend J.J. Goldberg of the Forward has now answered my question. In a blog item devoted to Jewish anxiety (yes, Jews are at risk, remember) over the New York Times’s use of the word "Jewish nationalists" in a headline about Zionists romping in Jerusalem, Goldberg writes:
The Times correspondent who wrote that article, Isabel Kershner, immigrated to Israel from her native England as a young woman and spent a couple of decades in Israeli journalism and Jewish education before joining the Times a few years ago. By now she’s thoroughly Israeli (and, for full disclosure, a friend).
So: Kershner’s Israeli. And she is married to an Israeli, Hirsh Goodman. The other Times correspondent, Ethan Bronner, is an American Jew also married to an Israeli. At the most important newspaper in determining the conventional wisdom in the U.S., that is quite a mishpocheh, as my mother would say (Yiddish for clan). South Africa never had it so good!
h/t Alex Kane. Thanks.
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What do you want to bet Witty’s going to come on the thread and, instead of making a lengthy article condemning a fellow Zionist for lack of journalistic integrity — an attack he frequently levels at Mr. Weiss — he will instead find a way to skirt the issue and complain about the grammar of the headline?
Is there a practical issue here? Isn’t it an advantage in a foreign correspondent to speak the local language?
Arabic not being a local language?
The “practical issue” is that small matter of ingrained bias. When both of the NYT’s correspondents are hardcore Zionists, the alleged adherence to “objectivity” becomes a farce.
For the New York Times, this is no different than what Judith Miller did.
More Palestinians probably speak Hebrew than Jews speak Arabic.
Ergo, couldn’t you find a Palestinian correspondent? Since many Palestinians speak Hebrew and Arabic, whereas many Israeli Jews and American Jews do not speak Arabic?
Hey, you could even find one with Israeli citizenship, or citizenship in the diaspora, seeing as there’s an awful lot of ‘em.
David’s point is superb. Any Palestinian reporter would be attacked and discredited as soon astheir first article appeared.
Never seems to occur to them, does it?
Someone needs to compile a list of examples of bias in NY Times reporting, together with a list of facts such as this one which explain the bias, and start a petition that can spread effectively, like Henry Norr was able to do with Amazon’s treatment of Carter’s book. The petition could demand either more impartiality, or counterbalances to the heavy Israeli tilt.
The New York Times is one of the three mainstream Jewish newspapers which mould the US foreign and local policies. The other two are the Wall Street Journal and the Washington Post. However, for saying that I most probably will be called ‘anti-Semite (though I could be as much of Semite as any Jew of the face of Earth). According to one Hasbara site, Zionism On The Web – “the claim that Jews control the media (but often adjusted to “Zionists control the media”) is a myth which was originally started with the far right, Fascism needed a group to scape goat. The more recent rise of the Zionist control of media myth in the far left is a combination of coding Jews as Zionists or Israel, and a scape goating of Israel for the faults of imperialism (typical British imperialism). This is pushed by Arab groups in an attempt to get favourable press coverage and discredit Israel in the Palestinian-Israel conflict.”
Do Zionists control world’s media?
http://rehmat1.wordpress.com/2009/12/05/do-zionists-control-worlds-media/
You could ask, are they influential way beyond their numbers? Followed up by, why is that, exactly? What % of American living do currently not realize the native Americans were
given a bad deal? Now ask the same question of Americans as to the Palestinians living now?
Tell you anything?
How to account for this situation, considering 98% of the USA is not Jewish?
Just asking.
Someone who knows statistics should do an analysis showing how overrepresented Jews should be in the media based on their verbal IQ, college attendance and other objective factors. If there’s excess overrepresentation beyond that, then we’ll have a better indication of the degree of their ethnic nepotism and in particular, their deliberate exclusion of white gentile men.
“their deliberate exclusion of white gentile men”
Here we finally get to the crux of the matter! Listen friend, when a Jewish guy beats you out for a job or a girl, you got two choices, huh? You can go lick your wounds and resolve not to get beated again, or you can start calling yourself “America First” and start talking about “their deliberate exclusion of white gentile men”.
You don’t see the problem here, America First? If a tiny fractional part of a population less than 2%, can deliberately exclude Gentile men, what does that say about Gentile men? Seems to tell me they are a pretty piss-poor bunch of nudniks, if they can’t win on a 98-to-2 basis!
So what you are basically telling people is that even with a 98-to-2 advantage, they will still take the Jewish guy over you! You poor son-of-a-bitch! Listen, buddy, if I was that screwed up, so screwed up that any kid fresh out of cheder can eat my lunch and steal my girl, I wouldn’t brag about it, you know.
Did it ever occur to you that, no matter what the Jews are doing to your poor Gentiles, not every Gentile wants to set around and make it plain to everyone how inferior they are? At least try to put up a good front! Look, keep telling yourself that we, the Jews, will suffer eternal damnation for stealing your job anmd your wife!
But wait a minute! Wait a minute! I see what’s needed! Why don’t you petition the government for Gentile affirmative action!!! The degree of compensation could be based on how shriveled your little putz is, and you would be first in line.
Oy, Oy, the Jews are like poison, and there is so few of them!!
You are one pathetic character, First.
The key may be that white gentile men are Enlightenment-prone to merit selection based on the individual, while jewish networking relies on a hole card, being a member of the tribe. Of course when white gentile males play that hole card they are depicted as socially criminal. It’s good to play the
Shoah card. Who can undercut it? You, Mooser, rely on it.
Yes, our individualism and regard for the underdog has been used against us. In addition, there was a deliberate campaign of pro-jewish social engineering done at EEOC by ethnocentric Jewish activists pretending, as always, impartiality:
Who’s to Blame for the Affirmative Action Fiasco?
http://www.anthonyflood.com/murrayaafiasco.htm
@America First — “represented” implies some elected position. How many black, white, Christian, Muslim, Chinese, African, English or whatever people “should” be in media? As many as can do the job of reporting with accuracy and excellence. You can come from one background but report on, write about, make films about, or otherwise do research very well on people of another background. For Jewish people who do a great job reporting on Palestinian and Arab people, start with Anna Baltzer.
I’m not so much concerned with reporters from the countries they report on. I am concerned with U.S. government foreign policy and military decision makers who hold citizenship in additional countries. Does anyone know how many G. W. Bush and/or Barack Obama advisors and decision makers hold Israeli citizenship?
RE: Defense Intelligence Agency Analyst (Former) – Lawrence (Larry) Franklin
MY COMMENT: I do not believe he is either Jewish or an Israeli (although he is sometimes referred to as a ‘neocon’).
Lawrence Franklin – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lawrence_Franklin
Lawrence Franklin espionage scandal – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lawrence_Franklin_espionage_scandal
RE: Pentagon’s Defense Policy Board – Henry Kissinger
MY COMMENT: I doubt that Kissinger has Israeli citizenship. At a minimum, it appears to me that the above list contains numerous errors. I probably should not have posted it. I would not object to its being removed.
I am fairly certain that Chertoff , (former) Director of Homeland Security was a ‘dual national’ having Israeli citizenship.
Considering that on this web site the authors feel that dual citizenship is cause for being pilloried and many of the commenters feel that it is cause for exile or the guillotine, one should be careful what one accuses.
If Kissinger is a dual citizen it would be the country of his birth Germany, which he fled with his parents in order to avoid extermination. He is by no means a citizen of Israel and anyone who asserts otherwise is either dishonest or stupid or both.
Edward Said, who is granted sainthood on this site, once accused Ari Fleischer of dual citizenship. It is a common ploy of those who hate Israel to accuse every Jew of dual citizenship, particularly if they have a Hebrew name.
Michael Chertoff’s mother was Israeli but there is nothing in his bio to indicate dual citizenship.
The point of the dual citizenship thing is that it informs their politics.
But that in and of itself is unfair, because there is a lot of collusion between the general failure of the Establishment press (like the NYT) and the Zionist perspective and our government. So pointing out that someone at the times is an Israeli citizen as well is kind of unfair w/ respect to the other variables that determine the general worthlessness of the NYT.
“Fleischer” is not a Hebrew name. It’s a German name, and in German in means “butcher.” Quite appropriate, in my opinion.
“South Africa never had it so good!”
Voila.
This appears to be a closely guarded secret. While it is relatively easy to distinguish a foreign born Jew who lives or has lived Israel from one born there, it is almost impossible to find out whether the former became an Israeli citizen. Whether to do so seems to be a political more than a personal decision, so a David Makovsky, for example, who formerly edited the Jerusalem Post and now is an important figure at the Washington Inst. for Near East Policy, the AIPAC-founded “think tank,” decided not to become an Israeli citizen. When I asked him about it an interview, he Makovsky mumbled that it was personal on his part. Maintaining his US citizenship allows this (as well as other Israel Firsters who have made the same choice), to maintain his base as an American citizen while writing his op-ed pieces for the Washington Post and Wall Street Journal and more importantly, while testifying before Congressional committees on issues involving Israel which he frequently is called upon to do by his fellow Israel Firsters, such as Foreign Affairs Committee chair Howard Berman.
Not to be alarmist but isn’t that one of the cornerstones of any extant fifth column?
Congress is Israel’s fifth column. And it has never been shy of fulfilling its obligations.
Would be interesting to see how many influential Americans hold dual citizenship in Israel because of the high priority American foreign policy and foreign aid policy gives to Israel. Another aspect of this question is , what does it mean to accept the label of being
“pro-Israel?”
http://www.muzzlewatch.com/2009/11/19/hillels-troubles/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Muzzlewatch+%28MuzzleWatch%29
You know, I thought all American Jews were de facto Israeli citizens!
It just depends on whether one wishes to excersise that “privilege” or not.
I wouldn’t worry too much about it. Before it’s all over Israel will be demanding that American Jews (with all their assets) move to Israel, to save the faith and Jewish people. They will tell us it’s our obligation, being citizens of Israel and all.
Nice to know, Mooser. Really makes the 98% of non-Jewish Americans feel safe and secure. As you know, Israel cannot effectively demand that American Jews move to Israel. You get to have your cake and eat it too. Would the rest of us be as free.
They’ve been demanding this for decades.
American Jews are not de facto Israeli citizens. They can apply for citizenship and under normal circumstances would be granted citizenship if and when they move there, but they are not citizens at present. They are potential citizens.
But they can become citizens merely by A) being Jewish and B) moving there. Just so we’re clear on this.
The question to me is why citizenship should be some kind of secret. The US knows who its citizens are. Israel, presumably, knows who its citizens are, since they are currently revoking the citizenship of those it deems not Jewish enough.
I maintain that if a US public servant has dual citizenship, this ought to be known to the public.
I agree that US public servants (within bounds) who have dual citizenship should make this known to the public. (I don’t think that a public school teacher’s dual citizenship needs to be public knowledge. Conceivably no one employed on the domestic side of US public service needs to make their dual citizenship public knowledge, but we can define that further.)
“Since they are currently revoking the citizenship of those it deems not Jewish enough.” Where does this come from?
There are several UN resolutions denouncing the fact that Israel “deports” natives from their own homeland. Would you like me to look up the specifics?
Mishpocheh is Yiddish for clan, Phil Weiss asserts. Mishpocha is a Hebrew word meaning family. There are Hebrew words, German words and Slavic and probably words from other languages in Yiddish.
Shmuck and putz for example are not Hebrew words in origin. Meshugene is actually Hebrew in origin.
And this is relevant to the discussion… how? As far as distractions go, this one’s not very effective.
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