Glenn Greenwald reveals just how much of a weasel Paul Krugman is in his Christiane Amanpour defense when he, Greenwald, goes after Amanpour’s attacker, Tom Shales, hammer and tongs for the clear agenda Shales thinly veils: pro-Israel convention. Greenwald points out that what seems to bother Shales most of all is Christiane Amanpour’s Iranian background. Then he goes down the list:
Wolf Blitzer is Jewish, a former AIPAC official, and — to use Shales’ smear-campaign formulation — has frequently "been accused" of pro-Israel bias; should CNN bar him from covering those issues? David Gregory is Jewish, "studies Jewish texts with a top Jewish educator in Washington," and has conducted extremely sycophantic interviews with Israel officials. Should his background be cited as evidence of his pro-Israel bias? The Atlantic‘s Jeffrey Goldberg is routinely cited as one of America’s most authoritative sources on the Middle East, notwithstanding numerous accusations of pro-Israel bias and, even more so, his choice to go enlist in the IDF and work in an Israeli prison where Palestinians are encaged; do those actions (far beyond his mere ethnicity) call into question his objectivity as a journalist such that The Atlantic should bar him from writing about that region? Jake Tapper — who Shales suggests as an alternative to Amanpour and who I also previously praised as a choice — is Jewish; does that raise questions about his objectivity where Israel is concerned?
Nobody in The Washington Post would ever dare suggest that journalists with that background lack objectivity and should be barred from a prominent role in journalism as a result.
By the way, I disgree with Greenwald. I don’t know why I should adopt the Washington Post’s standards. I think that the amount of Jewishness in the reporting on this issue absolutely does raise questions. I want more diversity. Jewish life is by and large captured by pro-Israel feeling, and it is fair to be skeptical of reporters such as Daniel Schorr, Jeff Goldberg, Wolf Blitzer, David Gregory and others. I mean, what if most of the abortion reporting were being done by Catholics. I’d have misgivings. That’s one reason I try and be transparent about my own exposure to Zionism. I think people have a right to know.
And yes, let’s applaud ABC’s decision to appoint a worldly person to this important job.
