Writes a friend:
"Cognitive dissonance" isn't the same for the Israel loyalists as it is for most
other Americans. They see Israel as part of America, and America as a member of
Israel's family. Nothing anyone does for Israel while in America, using
American offices, methods, manipulation–no matter how treacherous or
mendacious–can be seen as anything but a patriotic act for the good of both
countries. That is why the pressure for the release of Jonathan Pollard won't
altogether let up ever. And why a man indicted for espionage in the U.S. like
Steven J. Rosen can pick up a megaphone to denounce Freeman; as if he, Rosen,
were the finer American of the two.
Look at the Middle East Forum announcement
of the ascent of Rosen to a fellowship there, and how it blazons his
influence-frankly saying out loud everything a prudent journalist
at the NY Times would tremble to say:
That announcement quotes the New Yorker profile of Rosen; did we forget whom
the New Yorker entrusted with its story on the Rosen-Franklin-Weissman case?
Even a halfway reasonable observer like Jacob Heilbrunn in an item (oddly)
reprinted at antiwar.com from The National Interest today goes after Stephen Walt for his sarcasm about Jeffrey
Goldberg.
A journalist (Jeffrey Goldberg) whose idea of 'public service’ was to
enlist in the Israeli army is challenging the credentials of a man who
devoted decades of his life to service in the U.S. government. Now
that’s chutzpah.
Heilbrunn :
No, it’s not. Walt’s attack on Jeffrey Goldberg for having enlisted in
the Israeli army is unfortunate. Is this act of idealism really to be
condemned? Is Walt suggesting that it was un-American or that it should
prevent Goldberg from voicing an opinion on Freeman?
How hoggish of Walt! Not to realize that enlisting in the IDF is a
perfectly ordinary patriotic act for an American…
