The New York Times just surprised us. This site has regularly showed how the paper hides the growth of the vicious far right in Israel, and just a week ago we pointed out that it had so far said nothing about the rise of Itamar Ben-Gvir, the violent extremist who is the most significant figure in the current election campaign.
Today, with only 8 days to go before Israel votes, the Times did run a lengthy profile of Ben Gvir, by its Jerusalem correspondent Patrick Kingsley. The report was on page 12, instead of the front page where it belongs, but it did finally let Ben-Gvir out of the attic where the paper had been hiding him. (The Times is not above suppressing news that damages Israel: last February, it ignored Amnesty International’s finding that Israel is enforcing a system of “apartheid,” even though the Amnesty report made global news.)
Today’s article did provide evidence for Ben-Gvir’s racist views. The first sentence even pointed out that “he was barred as a teenager from serving in the Israeli Army because he was considered too extremist.” Kingsley also reported that polls predict that Ben-Gvir’s electoral alliance will be the second-biggest group in Benjamin Netanyahu’s bloc, and the third-largest vote-getter in Israel.
Still, today’s report should have gone farther. It nowhere mentions that Ben-Gvir’s electoral strength means that Netanyahu will have to offer him a senior post in the Cabinet, (which Netanyahu already says he will do). The former Israeli defense chief, hardly a soft-hearted liberal, has already warned that “Netanyahu and Ben-Gvir will wreak havoc” if they join forces in government.
The Times also failed to report just how much fear and consternation Ben-Gvir’s rise is causing among part of the Israeli public. After news emerged that the local head of the international fashion manufacturer, Zara, had hosted a pro-Ben-Gvir meeting at his home, alarmed Israelis launched a boycott of the brand; it was endorsed by Merav Michaeli, who heads the Labor party. (So far, apparently, this boycott has not prompted charges that its advocates are “antisemites.”)
An even larger Times failure so far is that it has failed to report on why support for Ben-Gvir is booming, even in Israeli areas that are not historically far-right, including kibbutzes. Today’s report buried a money quote down in paragraph 31. Ilan Rubin Fields, who makes documentary films and who interviewed Ben-Gvir in 2018, said:
The mainstream, average opinion in Israel has become closer to him. I don’t think he’s much more radical than the average person you’d stop in the street.
What’s more, so far the Times reported nothing about how the pro-Israel lobby in the U.S., along with Israel’s allies in Congress, is frantically warning Israeli leaders that including Ben-Gvir in the next government will be a public relations disaster here.
Meanwhile, the rest of the U.S. mainstream media continues to hide Itamar Ben-Gvir, almost totally. Today’s Washington Post report on Israel’s election doesn’t even mention him until paragraph 26. National Public Radio has not followed up its October 7 on-air report. And Judy Woodruff, of the PBS News Hour, just did a pathetic interview with Benjamin Netanyahu; it lasted 11 minutes, but she never asked a single question about his unsavory ally.
Israel is no democracy–it’s b.s. (I could elaborate). But as long as the G-D place continue to claim it is, let’s accept the claim (with a wink) and stop blaming the government. Instead blame the people who elect these abominable people and tolerate a constiution-less, racist state!