Alex Kane reports at his new blog:
During a June 23 panel discussion at the Washington, D.C.-based Palestine Center, former New York Times reporter Taghreed El-Khodary said that she had to quit being a correspondent in the Gaza Strip after it was confirmed that Times’ Jerusalem bureau chief Ethan Bronner’s son joined the Israeli Defense Forces.
In response to a question about Bronner from Jared Malsin of the Palestine Note, El-Khodary said she had to leave the Times because she feared losing her sources and her life after the revelation about Bronner’s son. She said:
I have succeeded to be considered a very critical journalist on the ground, and I don’t want to lose that. If Ethan’s son joined the Israeli army, OK it’s his issue. If The New York Times decided to keep him there, ok, they took a decision. But I took a decision too. I mean, you’re not going to report this. It’s fine, but it’s not a new story, it’s old now. And I decided, because I don’t want to lose my sources, and I don’t want to lose my life, and I don’t want him to lose his life, so it’s as simple as that. So, I came out with that decision because it’s important to keep my sources. It’s a challenge, and I don’t want to lose it. I don’t want to be tainted like ‘the one who writes for someone that has a son in the army’ – I don’t want, I don’t need that. Already there are many challenges around you and you don’t want to add another one. It’s not worth it.
