Isabele Kershner, writing in the NY Times the other day, presented a scoop that surely made her controversial boss proud. Her boss, Jerusalem Bureau Chief Ethan “AbuBenTzali*” Bronner, has been criticized for his lack of objectivity, but his colleague Kershner showed that she too can compose pro-Israel slanted news stories.
Kershner reports that the octogenarian Israeli President, Shimon Peres, who she incorrectly implies has a moderating effect on Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, floated a bridging proposal which was meant to mend the current rift between feuding American and Israeli officials.
Peres sought to introduce a distinction between building colonies on open land in and around occupied East Jerusalem (presumably OK) and building within already existing Arab neighborhoods there, which usually entails booting out Palestinian residents (presumably, not helpful.) Both practices are equally illegal and threaten the Arab presence in the city. The first, which has been going on for over forty years, is actually the more significant in terms of altering the demographics of the area, although the second has recently generated demonstrations and much bad publicity. The Obama administration has explicitly called for a halt to all new settlement construction. The Americans would surely dismiss Peres’ meaningless distinction, which Kershner finally acknowledges in her last paragraph.
Shimon Peres, who is a former Israeli Prime Minister, has had a more than six-decade career as an important Israeli politician. However, he now occupies the ceremonial position of President and his real influence on policy has diminished to close to zero. What makes Peres’ thoughts newsworthy is anyone’s guess. It definitely is not the modest venue in which he chose to “float” (Kershner’s word) the proposal, which was an elementary school in a suburb of Tel Aviv! This is decidedly an odd place to test out thoughts on foreign diplomacy. One wonders if Kershner personally attended the event or was it was covered by a local “stringer.” Maybe some precocious and enterprising sixth grader tipped the paper about the Peres statement.
After it was made public recently that Ethan Bronner’s son had enlisted in the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF), his editor Bill Keller dismissed charges of conflict of interest,arguing that the fact that his chief correspondent’s family is embedded in Israeli culture only increases the quality of his contacts and enhances his understanding of events. I suppose that Kershner, who like Bronner, is married to an Israeli and is said to be more embedded than him, could possibly have a son or daughter in the class that hosted Peres. How is that for having contacts that most American reporters lack!
Reporting the non-story of Shimon Peres’ meaningless proposal is only one small example of the bizarre lengths that Bronner and Kershner will go in order to make Israel look good. In fact in the same piece, Kershner leads with the claim that Netanyahu’s quick and official repudiation of his crackpot brother-in-law’s accusation that President Obama is an anti-Semite is an indication that the Israeli Prime Minister is trying to be conciliatory. Yet later on in the article she admits that Netanyahu shows no inclination to budge on the very issue that caused the flap: building in East Jerusalem.
Clark Hoyt, the Public Editor of the Times, recommended that Bronner be reassigned, since readers “don’t expect a correspondent sent to cover an intense overseas conflict to wind up heavily invested in one side….” This prescription should also apply to Kershner, whose life and writing, like Bronner’s, points to the fact that she is “embed.”
*AbuBenTzali may be translated from Arabic and Hebrew as “Father of Kid IDF.”
RE: “Peres sought to introduce a distinction between building colonies on open land in and around occupied East Jerusalem (presumably OK) and building within already existing Arab neighborhoods there” – Ira Glunts
MY COMMENT: I sent an E-mail urging my representatives to support the Obama Administration’s call to end Israeli settlements in East Jerusalem. You can send your own E-mail today by clicking on this link – link to aaper.org
ALTERNATE LINK –link to aaper.org
P.S. What is AAPER? The American Association for Palestinian Equal Rights (AAPER) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit educational organization whose mission is to inform the American public about the human and national rights of the Palestinian people and the role of the United States in the Middle East.
in the last paragraph Kershner notes how this alternative will not likely satisfy obama’s demands mentioning noting about palestinian demands as if they are meaningless.
Kershner might read Gideon Levy for some insight into the situation: link to haaretz.com
If the NYT editors thing Israeli viewpoints are valuable, why do they never present the viewpoints of Israelis like Levy, or Uri Avnery?
The Israelis annexed East Jerusalem in 1967, and thus have a perfect right to build wherever they please, under those conditions. The real question in this case is the annexation, which no-one, including the US, recognises, and the illegality of the annexation is never mentioned or emphasised in newpaper articles, or indeed in any discussions of East Jerusalem.
The Israelis have been getting away with faits accomplis since they ‘adjusted’ their borders in 1948, and since this one has survived 43 years they seem to have accepted that no-one is going to change the situation for them.
The question I’ve asked repeatedly which no Zionist seems to have an answer for — how can you demand the world recognize Israel’s borders when Israel herself doesn’t recognize borders.
“Anti-Semite!” Isn’t that the standard Zionist answer to tough questions? It’s really a very efficient answer, because it can be used for multiple uncomfortable questions.
TREE- Of course, one doesn’t have to be an anti-Semite to be accused of making “anti-Semitic” statements. Naturally, if one continues making these types of statements, the conclusion is obvious, isn’t it?
They demand that the world recognize that Israel will declare any borders it wishes.
On US TV, the land in question is always referred to as “disputed,” and not as annexed, or annexed illegally, or occupied, or occupied illegally.
You know folks, I was brought up to respect and treat with kindness all people who are fragile or elderly. But that Peres, man, his coocoo-land ideas and racism just make me violently sick.
Some kind soul out there please show him some mercy and tell him to STFU and go retire on the beaches of Odessa!
The man has lost a marble or two, though remains sneakily racist. He’s embarrassing himself and the NYT is a fucking asshole to enable the public self-humiliation of a nutty old man.