Israeli diplomat ambushed by NY Times staff
The New York Times, flagship of the liberal American media, has never been a friend of the Jewish state. But the newspaper’s aversion to Israel turned to open hostility this month when its top editors ambushed and tore into an unsuspecting senior official from the Israeli Consulate in New York City.
The Israeli official was invited by the Times editors, among them rabid columnist Thomas Friedman, to meet with them at their office. Being a veteran at dealing with the American media, the official assumed the invitation was for a friendly discussion and perhaps an interview regarding the peace process and other matters of importance to Israel.
The Israeli had no idea he was being invited for what he described as a lynch.
As the meeting started, the Times editors – most of them Jews, and one of them a former Israeli – began to attack the Israeli diplomat, and refused to give him even a moment to respond.
They blamed Israel for everything, the diplomat told Israel Today.
The Times editors insisted the breakdown of the peace process was Israel’s fault, that the lack of peace was Israel’s fault, and were adamant that Israel had given nothing to the Palestinians. They accused Israel of being an extremist and racist state, and blasted the diplomat for Israel’s “ill-treatment” of President Barack Obama.
In short, the Times staff informed the Israeli in no uncertain terms that they were sick of his country.
The diplomat told us he was shocked by the attack. He tried to respond, but the Times editors were not interested in hearing his arguments.
“I asked them,” said the diplomat, “We haven’t given the Palestinians anything? How can you say that? Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu broke with his party platform and implemented a 10-month Jewish building freeze, and what did we get in return? More Palestinian refusal to negotiate.”
According to the Israeli, the Times editors responded: “Yes, yes. Of course you are going to start telling us about how Israel’s security needs are not being met. You just don’t get it that we are sick of hearing about that.”
There is little doubt that this ambush was led by Friedman, whose hostility toward Israel in his recent columns has surprised even his liberal friends in the Jewish state.
In recent articles, Friedman has accused Israel of being a spoiled child, crazy and extremist. He insisted that the US stop being Israel’s “enabler,” and pointed out that the rest of the world is fully on the side of the Palestinians, so why not America?
Wrote Friedman in one of his columns: “Israel, when America – which has given you billions over the past 50 years and defended you in the international arena – asks you to stop building settlements for three months in order to jump start peace talks, there is only one correct answer, and that is ‘yes, whatever you say.’”
“Times editors responded: “Yes, yes. Of course you are going to start telling us about how Israel’s security needs are not being met. You just don’t get it that we are sick of hearing about that.”
I agree the NY times were also “sick of hearing” about the plight of the Jews during WWII, and didn’t report about the Genocide of the Jews in Europe.
Jews, don’t need to have security, they should be sheep to the slaughter. That’s what the NY Times likes. It’s high time Jews show some self respect, and call for a total ban on that self hating news paper.
How do we know that this story is true? If so, I will publicize it widely. However, I need to have proof that it really happened before passing on this information.
Israeli “diplomats” are NO diplomats.
They have no skills and street-smarts to be a SMART diplomat. They are all pretenders. They are all installed in these jobs by the Leftist establishment, thru family ties, connections…etc.
A SMART diplomat instead of taking slaps and spits in the face, would have turned it into a loud game of COUNTER-accusations AGAINST NYT.
But the israeli idiot who was sitting there was taught by his teachers like barak, olmert and similar crap, to be quiet and to accept every blow in the face and then to say “thankyou”
This is a post-Begin era of “diplomacy”.
Now, IMAGINE if this person was a legendary ABA EVEN(Eban).
How he would handle this childish attack.
There is no problem even imagining here. He would use just a maximum of 10 sequences to slander the whole NYT and spill a bucket-full of filth on them, and finally shutting them down with an exclamation point.
Not only that, NYT assholes would have Thanked him for being so generous….
ISRAEL is ruled by The FIFTH Column. It’s the real enemy of Israel, the most dangerous.
Narvey has a point, where does this story come from? However, I have a few thoughts on this as well, namely the mentally deranged are unpredictable. While I do question the story a bit it doesn’t surprise me because the left is becoming more unhinged by the moment. They thought they had it all sewn up with their new “messiah” but he is rapidly being recognized as an inadequate, metrosexual, empty suit with a bad attitude who spends way too much time on vacation and hasn’t fulfilled their every wish (children get mad about such things). The Tea Party came along and unset them and now the Conservatives have control of the House of Representatives and hence the purse strings. The average man is beginning to realize that global warming is a hoax and these great elites, the intellectuals, the smartest people in the room are VERY ANGRY.
I enjoy getting into political conversations with people and those on the left get angry VERY easily. So I believe that they would do such a thing is entirely possible, and entirely in character. FURTHERMORE, there is probably more than meets the eye because this is not the whole story.
I nominate Arnold Harris to handle Israel’s PR front. Regardless of the accuracy of the report, Arnold’s approach is what is clearly needed if Israel is to win the diplomatic battle.
God always stirred up an enemy against Israel when they joined with other nations for security or adopted the lifestyle of the nations of the world. There can be no peace until they accept the word of God as written to govern their nation.
The primary message through the prophet Muhammad was to follow the whole Bible, Torah and Gospel, all God sent to the people of the Book. (Qur’an, Ahmadiyya Numbers: 5.68, 69; 42.14-16; judge by Torah and Gospel 5:43-51)
Jesus said to live by every word of God. He did not do away with the law of Moses; that wouldl have made him the false prophet of Deuteronomy 13. He was not.. (Matthew 4:4, Luke 16:17,31, John 6:65, Rev.19:10, John 1: God is His word, that word dwelt in Jesus to show us its truth.
God is against nations joining together for protection, provision and control etc.
He frustrates, confuses and destroys their plans (G-20, UN, WTO, EU, NATO, Quartet)
(Psalm 1 and 2, II Chronicles 16:7-12; 19:2, 20:35-37; Leviticus 26, Isaiah 8:9-14; 30:1-7)
Diagnostic precursors of institutional and business failure:
New York Times: TOM FRIEDMAN
CNN; CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR
Harvard Kennedy School: STEVEN WALT
readers are welcome to add to the list.
I never could understand why Friedman has garnered so many accolades. Little that he has to say is more than vacuous or obvious. But balloons rise when filled with nothing more than hot air.
Narvey good points. Wise to be suspicious.
I am puzzled by this article for a number of reasons:
1. The Israeli official is not identified;
2. Save for Freidman, the NYT editorial staff that were there to give this official a piece of their NYT minds, were not identified;
3. It is unclear whether these NYT staff had called the meeting on behalf of the NYT or they did it on their own;
4. There is no apparent purpose to having such a meeting, especially if the NYT staff did not report this meeting in the NYT press;
5. Other than upsetting the Israeli official, there is nothing in this article to suggest anything was accomplished by the meeting or that the Israeli official was told anything new as to the NYT’s anti-Israel views, save that the NYT staff had a chance to vent and presumably feel better for having done that.
I am rather suspicious of the accuracy or significance of this report because it begs so many questions and leaves them all unanswered.
friedman and the ny SLIMES want Americans to be as morally depraved as the rest of the world and the ny slimes itself.
In the battle between civilization and the jihadists, the ny slimes is fully on the side of al qaeda, hamas, hezbollah, the iranian regime etc.
Jerry:
Jerry – the idea is good, except that you can never be sure he will not become physical. If you invade his “personal space” like that, you have to be prepared for a possible attack – and preferably know how to deal with it from close up… which is actually somewhat easier than from a distance. Read Musashi’s “Book of Five Rings”.
ArnoldHarris:
It’s called “the shortest distance between two points” and I agree with it entirely. Let our enemies and their helpers tie themselves in knots with complex “solutions”.
I agree with Arnold we have idiots and fools in our diplomatic corps most of them off the record would agree with the NYT world view and point of view with regards to BB and Israel. Lieberman fell down on his job or by non enforcement. Either way he is responsible for our Diplomats.
I would declare the NYT Wapo and LA Times enemies of Israel and the Jewish People. I would declare them Persona non Grata in Israel and direct our official personnel to cease any contact with those organizations. I would urge Jews and friends of Israel not to contribute to those organizations in any way, no stocks, no advertising, no news or literary contributions or submissions and canceling all subscriptions.
I don’t expect much from American Jews but I do expect the Israeli government to act as the proud and legitimatize voice and conduit of the Jewish people.
I would set a goal of putting the NYT out of business in 3-4 years and to consider them as much of an enemy as Iran or the Palis. Give them a NYT version of a Suxtnet cocktail.
It would be crucial that they know we did it to them.
None of this will happen of course because of who we’ve got leading us. Removal of the Galut mentality will take generations.
Absolutely.
After reading the other comments, a possible approach for the Israeli diplomat was to rip his clothes off and claim that they were raping him when he escaped. Not terribly far from the truth!
The proper response to these dudes who were sick of hearing about Israel’s security needs was, “Why are you sick of hearing about our need to survive? Don’t you want us to survive?”
There is always the generic, “And what is your plan for us if you turn out to have been wrong? Would you sit Shiva?”
Then there is the direct attack: “What makes you Jewish exactly, Mr. Friedman?” or “How are you different from Chamberlain?” or “What if your appeasement approach is bringing war closer? Will you take responsibility and commit suicide to join those who you have sent to their deaths?” Unfortunately, journalists are not responsible for their being wrong!
When someone is attacking you verbally, but you feel pretty sure that he will not become physical, just enter his “personal space” by walking over to stand within 1-2 feet of him.
I blame Mr Israeli diplomat for being naive enough to attend such a session with a known hostile media gang such as the New York Times. The twin causes of Israel and the Jewish nation cannot afford and have no place for the naivety of fools or children. And anyone who falls for such a stunt should be in a profession other than his country’s diplomatic service.
In any case, the friends of Israel in the USA listen to FoxNews and read the Wall Street Journal. We certainly do not bother with the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times, CBS news, NBC news, ABC news, MSNBC or CNN. And anybody with any sort of common sense would know that if you want to release any sort of diplomatic information or get a sympathetic ear for your country’s diplomacy in general, than you confine your media contacts to those who are known to be friendly to your cause.
Diplomacy in many ways is nothing more than an extension of a country’s national propaganda efforts. Dr Joseph Paul Goebbels certainly could have given Israel’s diplomatic ass-holes a good lesson on how to run a propaganda campaign. As for “truth”, what in hell does that count for in the face of a protracted conflict such as Israel and the Jews in general are subjected to? Such considerations as truth, freedom of the press and the rest of such nonsense go by the wayside when the guns are being fired, the missiles launched, the artillery fired, the fighter-bombers are screaming in for the kill, and the secret services are seeking out enemy agents to assassinate.
All of us interested in either a safe Israel or even better, a victorious Israel, should concentrate on winning this war, and ignoring everything else. That means any other consideration.
Arnold Harris
Mount Horeb WI
Sounds more credible this way:
This kind of behaviour smacks of panic. Seems that the lies (intellectually-based lies of course) and political correctness that the NYT has been propagating for quite some time, have failed to work as intended, and they are now reduced to acting like… spoiled children.