Tablet ran a piece today on several "anti-Israel" bloggers who are allegedly mainstreaming anti-Semitism so as to gin up the traffic numbers of "media companies": Steve Walt, Andrew Sullivan, Glenn Greenwald, Jim Lobe, and me. Exalted company! The piece says that all are Jew-baiters and "agents of influence," and none is quoted– though commenters on a couple of the sites are, and Jeffrey Goldberg, too, saying that Walt is trying to marginalize Jews from American life. A truly vicious charge about a guy who I’m told has promoted diversity at every turn.
I might respond when I’m not tired. Andrew Sullivan responds here, pointing out that Tablet offered no evidence for the allegations (and that when it comes to an "open sewer of hate," a choice phrase in the piece, Netanyahu should be the focus). At Foreign Policy, Walt points out that the attack reflects the fact that our side is winning, then pluckily notes that Tablet is trying to intimidate the Washington Post company, which carries his blog.
Why do they use such ugly tactics? The answer is simple: the case they are defending is so weak that they cannot rely on facts, logic, and claims of justice to win the day. To be perfectly clear, I am not talking about the case for Israel’s existence inside its pre-1967 borders, which I wholeheartedly support. Rather, I am talking about the case for defending many of Israel’s policies, including its actions in the Occupied Territories, and its recent wars against Lebanon (2006) and Gaza (2008-2009). I am talking about the case for giving Israel unconditional and uncritical backing no matter what it does, which is not in either America’s or Israel’s interest. Those cases cannot stand up to scrutiny, which is why Smith and Goldberg have to rely on name-calling and character assassination instead of facts, logic, and rational discussion.
One final point is in order about the lobby’s efforts to marginalize individuals who criticize Israel. Smith’s attack is obviously designed to try to convince the people who run Foreign Policy to drop me from its site. Why else would Smith make a pointed reference to the "owners of the Washington Post" and to the "advertising staff" there?
The fact is that the blogosphere has succeeded in opening up a freewheeling and informative discourse about Israel and Middle East politics that is still largely absent from the mainstream media. Subjects relating to Israel that were taboo not too long ago are now being openly discussed on the internet, and by writers who have a large audience. This is a major headache for the lobby, which is used to the relatively easy task of policing the mainstream media. But rest assured that "pro-Israel" forces are hard at work trying to figure out how to silence the likes of Greenwald, Sullivan, Weiss, and me. Smith and Goldberg are part of that effort.
