It’s not news to anyone who follows the Israel/Palestine issue that the top foreign policy columnist at the New York Times takes a side. “Israel had me at hello,” Tom Friedman said in September 2019 at a New York temple. He said he’s worried that the next generation of Times columnists won’t be as reflexively pro-Israel as he is– and confessed he’s on a “personal crusade” to change the Arab world. Just as 18 years ago Friedman said that he wanted to “smash” something in the Arab world as a response to such acts as suicide bombings in Israel, and that’s why he supported the Iraq war.
What may be a surprise is how much the foundation that Friedman formed with his wife, the Ann B. and Thomas L. Friedman Family Foundation, has given to pro-Israel causes. The foundation has been contributing to pro-Israel causes for about 15 years now, according to federal filings for tax-exemption for charities (Form 990).
And while it’s plain that Friedman is putting his money where his mouth is — these causes are ones that Friedman also espouses in his columns — he does not disclose the gifts in the newspaper. Try to imagine a Palestinian or Arab-American columnist at a mainstream publication giving money to pro-Palestinian lobbying organizations without disclosing as much. That person would be pilloried for supporting such causes. There would be calls for the columnist to resign.
In Tom Friedman’s case, and the New York Times, it’s just business as usual.
Here are some of the pro-Israel and Israeli causes Friedman has given to between 2007 and 2019.
New Israel Fund, $15,000
Jewish Federations of Greater Washington, $45,000
Anti Defamation League $20,000
MEMRI $10,000
Shalom Hartman Institute, $15,000
American Friends of Hebrew University, $30,000
The 2018 contribution to MEMRI — the Middle East Media Research Institute — is egregious because MEMRI is an Israel “propaganda” outlet that has a long record of Islamophobia. Writes the Council on American-Islamic Relations:
MEMRI has an established reputation for distributing highly selective, distorted, and inaccurate translations of Arabic and Persian media. Through these selections the organization attempts to portray Muslims and Arabs as being inherently irrational and violent. The Middle East Media Research Institute is part of the inner core of the U.S. Islamophobia network.
Friedman made the grant to MEMRI after often citing MEMRI’s translations of Arab and Muslim media in his columns: in 2012 and 2014 and 2007 and again, 2007.
In 2012 Friedman gave MEMRI an encomium: “What I respect about Memri is that it translates not only the ugly stuff but the courageous liberal, reformist Arab commentators as well.”
As for other grantees, the Shalom Hartman Institute is an Israel lobby group in the U.S. with a centrist-liberal Zionist orientation.
The Jewish Federations of Greater Washington is a charity organization aimed at strengthening the Jewish community, and it does strong pro-Israel programming.
The Anti-Defamation League’s chief portfolio is antisemitism in America. But it is also a pro-Israel organization that seeks to cast anti-Zionist statements and organizing as antisemitic.
New Israel Fund is a liberal Zionist organization that supports dissident groups inside Israel.
We sent questions to Tom Friedman about his advocacy and gifts via the Times website on April 27. He has not responded.
Friedman’s foundation activities were brought to our attention by Michael Petrelis, a Bay Area open government and media accountability activist and New York Times shareholder who has researched the many times that Friedman has quoted executives at organizations to which he gave money.
Petrelis is seeking to pressure the New York Times to disclose these gifts. The Times has its annual shareholders’ meeting today at noon, and Petrelis hopes to raise the issue there. “I want accountability and transparency from [Friedman] and the Times,” he told us.
Petrelis put up a complete list of Friedman’s sources to whom he has given money on Facebook and wrote:
Columnist Thomas Friedman of The New York Times has donated over $13,000,000 since 2006 to charities he has favorably used as sources, and not once has he disclosed his donations. I pored over the IRS 990 filings from the Friedman Family Foundation he operates with his wife Ann, to cull the donations. Then I searched his columns in The Times and never found a disclosure from him about funding his sources….
[I]f any NYT reporter or columnist is giving millions to his sources, readers should know that.”
Friedman is a dedicated Zionist.mouthpiece.. Hence, he is a liar, a racist and a fascist!
He is also extremely worried about “Israel’s” rapidly declining image around the world, especially in the U.S.
To quote Steve Walt:in 2009:
https://foreignpolicy.com/2009/11/30/why-they-hate-us-ii-how-many-muslims-has-the-u-s-killed-in-the-past-30-years/
“Contrary to what [Tom] Friedman thinks, our real problem isn’t a fictitious Muslim ‘narrative’ about America’s role in the region; it is mostly the actual things we have been doing in recent years. To say that in no way justifies anti-American terrorism or absolves other societies of responsibility for their own mistakes or misdeeds. But the self-righteousness on display in Friedman’s op-ed isn’t just simplistic; it is actively harmful. Why? Because whitewashing our own misconduct makes it harder for Americans to figure out why their country is so unpopular and makes us less likely to consider different (and more effective) approaches.
“Some degree of anti-Americanism may reflect ideology, distorted history, or a foreign government’s attempt to shift blame onto others (a practice that all governments indulge in), but a lot of it is the inevitable result of policies that the American people have supported in the past. When you kill tens of thousands of people in other countries — and sometimes for no good reason — you shouldn’t be surprised when people in those countries are enraged by this behavior and interested in revenge. After all, how did we react after September 11?”
Dig a little deep and you will find the dirt….that goes for apologists posing as journalists like Brett Stephens and Bari Weiss. They are constantly on a mission to protect and support Israel in ways they think is unnoticeable by the country. They are basically falling on their swords to prove their devotion to Israel.
“Columnist Thomas Friedman of The New York Times has donated over $13,000,000 since 2006 to charities”.
Some gig eh ,spending much of your time telling lies and twisting facts and history . If Freidman had to build a story around facts , he would not be a very wealthy Journalist. I use the term loosely in his case.
MEMRI = FAKE NEWS. Really. Founded by Yigal Carmon and Meyrav Wurmser both professional liars.-
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2005/sep/28/worlddispatch.brianwhitaker
By way of contrast, David Brooks, another NYT columnist, has been taken to task for his non-disclosure of ties to other groups. Why doesn’t the times treat Brooks and Friedman the same?
https://www.thewrap.com/david-brooks-new-york-times-aspen-institute/
The New York Times is investigating columnist David Brooks’ ties to an outside group after reports that his second job is funded by Facebook and Jeff Bezos’ father, but his readers certainly don’t know that…“We’re in the process of reviewing David’s relationship with the Weave Project and the Aspen Institute, and what disclosures, if any, should be added to David’s columns going forward,” a Times spokesperson told TheWrap Thursday.