A reader responded to my question of yesterday– Why
hasn’t C-Span aired Walt & Mearsheimer’s appearance at Politics and
Prose?– saying that the answer may be found in the Board of Directors
of C-SPAN. http://www.c-span.org/about/company/index.asp?code=BOARD
The reader noted that the board’s executive committee includes Robert Miron, chairman and ceo of Advance/Newhouse Communications, and then included this tidbit:
Miron’s community activities include past president of the Syracuse Jewish Community Center,
former vice president of Temple Adath Yeshurun, former board member of
the Syracuse Jewish Federation, and member of the Metropolitan
Development Association. He was the Temple Adath Citizen of the Year
in 2000.
The reader also cited Allen Block, vice chair of the C-Span board, noting that Block’s grandfather Paul, the founder of Block
Communications, was a poor Jewish immigrant from Poland who had fled
persecution there. (As my grandfather did.)
These comments are anti-semitic. I strongly doubt that the presence of
these two Jews is why C-Span isn’t airing Walt & Mearsheimer. And
yet I can’t utterly refute the reader. Last year the New York Theatre
Workshop cancelled its production of the Rachel Corrie play in part
because of resistance from board members, many of whom are Jewish. Last
year Human Rights Watch equivocated somewhat in its statements about
the (horrifying) Lebanon war, again because it relies on the Jewish
community for support. Last year Columbia University cancelled an
appearance at the school by Iran President Ahmadinejad–with some
professors at the school murmuring (with justice, I believe) that it was because Columbia is
heavily reliant on Jewish alums.
(And this week Columbia has invited Ahmadinejad to speak; hail Columbia!)
My point is that, obviously the arrival of Jews in
the political/cultural establishment has been very important in terms of
insulating Israel from criticism, and distorting our foreign policy. Americans aren’t stupid; they
know this is the case. There’s lots of information on the internet, and now Walt and Mearsheimer are bestsellers.
There is only one answer to such conspiracy-theory/antisemitism/entirely-legitimate speculation. Have an open discussion in our televised media– Chris Matthews, Charlie Rose, 60 Minutes, the nightly news broadcasts–about these issues. Demystify them, and yes, too, embarrass those who have sought to protect Israel, working behind the scenes. America is a great country; let’s prove it again.
