I attack the Washington Post all the time. Well here's a great piece by Howard Schneider and Samuel Sockol of the Post about Israeli novelist Alon Hilu, who has made the Nakba a central theme in a historical novel about Palestine/Israel. Emphasis mine:
The first immigrants "came from Europe with an attitude," Hilu, 37,
said in an interview at his apartment north of Tel Aviv. "It was kind
of a typical meeting between colonialists and natives. There are
aspects of colonialism in Zionism. You can't deny that."…
An opening quote from the Koran sets the tone: "We destroyed them and
their people. . . . So those are their houses fallen down because they
were unjust."
The backlash, while deferential to Hilu's right to publish what he
wants, reflects the mood of a public that has become increasingly
impatient with criticism of the country. Prime Minister Binyamin
Netanyahu has argued that — counter to Hilu's vision — reconciliation
will come when Palestinians stop regarding Jews as interlopers and
acknowledge Israel as the rightful Jewish homeland. Members of his
government have advocated measures that would require Israel's Arab
citizens to take oaths of loyalty to the Jewish state and prohibit them
from commemorating Israel's independence as the "naqba," or the
disaster.
"Self-criticism is okay, but sometimes it is beyond the redlines,"
said Ben-Dror Yemini, a columnist for the Maariv newspaper whose
articles helped trigger a campaign against the book after it was
awarded the coveted Sapir Prize. "When Jews or Zionists are depicted in
this way, it is going from criticism to delegitimization and demonizing
the whole idea of the Jewish state."
