Even I was surprised by Jodi Rudoren’s latest piece in the New York Times, a profile of the Israeli Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked that portrayed a woman who has endorsed genocide against Palestinians as feisty and principled. Rudoren brags that she got the first interview with Shaked, but I couldn’t help imagining what Rudoren would have done as a reporter if the Times had sent her to Selma, Alabama, in 1965, and she’d met, say, Betty Jones, a leader of the Daughters of the Confederacy who had just announced for Congress.
Real Rudoren in the Times today:
For Ms. Shaked, a former computer engineer, the main thing is “to strengthen the Jewish identity” of Israel, “to have a democratic, Jewish, strong state.”
Imaginary Selma Rudoren:
For Mrs. Jones, a former bookkeeper, the main thing is “to strengthen the white identity” of Alabama, “to have a democratic, white, strong state.”
Real Rudoren:
Hanan Ashrawi, a Palestinian leader among the throngs who fulminated over Ms. Shaked’s new role, said it “is not only a threat to peace and security, but generates a culture of hate and lawlessness.”
Imaginary Selma Rudoren:
Martin Luther King Jr, a black leader among the throngs who fulminated over Mrs. Jones’s new role, said it “is not only a threat to peace and security, but generates a culture of hate and lawlessness.”
Real Rudoren:
Ms. Shaked said her best friend has described her as a “robot,” and her husband calls her “the computer” because of her methodical approach. “They say that I’m very calculated and not very sensitive,” Ms. Shaked explained in an interview, her first since her recent rocket rise.
Imaginary Selma Rudoren:
Her husband describes her as an adding machine because of her methodical approach, Mrs. Jones said, in her first interview since her meteoric rise. The Times could not obtain interviews with Lester Maddox, George Wallace, and Bull Connor, but maybe after this article, they will change their minds.
Real Rudoren:
A flash point came last June, when Ms. Shaked posted on Facebook a never-published article by a settler activist who had died. It described the entire Palestinian people as “the enemy,” called youths who become “martyrs” while attacking Israelis “snakes,” and said their mothers should “go to hell” with them.
Bloggers accused her of promoting genocide….
“It was a mistake,” Ms. Shaked said in the interview, a day before her swearing-in. “I’m doing a lot of mistakes, like every human being.”
Imaginary Selma Rudoren:
A flashpoint came when Mrs. Jones wrote a letter to a local Alabama paper endorsing the Birmingham church bombing that killed four black girls and the Philadelphia, Mississippi, lynching of three civil rights workers as the only way for white people to work out a future with black people.
Mrs. Jones says her letter may have been a mistake, and she’s made a lot of mistakes, like every human being.
Real Rudoren:
To call her a lightning rod seems an understatement. But unlike other headline-grabbing, flame-throwing politicians, Ms. Shaked is disciplined, a doer.
Imaginary Selma Rudoren:
To call Betty Jones a lightning rod seems an understatement. But in stark contrast to the politicians who grab headlines by standing in schoolhouse doors or provocative activists who burn crosses on front lawns and chant Death to Negroes, Mrs. Jones is disciplined, a doer.
Real Rudoren:
Erez Eshel, who met Ms. Shaked at Tel Aviv University . . . recalled going to see her during Israel’s 1999 election campaign. . .
“She said, ‘Erez, don’t talk, let’s do action,’ and we simply went out and removed all the signs of the Labor Party from the streets of Tel Aviv. From 11 until 4 o’clock in the morning,”
Imaginary Selma Rudoren:
Mrs. Jones is a person not of words, but of hard work. Friends say that last week she walked through the streets of the black neighborhoods of Selma all night long, removing posters calling for a peaceful march for voting rights.
Real Rudoren:
Ms. Shaked asked to be asked about Arab citizens. She said they “should be an integrated part of the Israeli society,” denied they face discrimination and said more spots should be created for them to do national service in lieu of the military.
Imaginary Selma Rudoren:
Mrs. Jones denied that black people face discrimination. There are plenty of opportunities for them all over Alabama. They need to know their place is the issue, she said.
Real Rudoren:
She danced ballet, was active in the Scouts and excelled at math.
Imaginary Selma Rudoren:
She danced ballet, was active in the Scouts and excelled at math.
