CAMERA - Nicholas Kristof's Op-Ed: More of the Same

Sarit Catz
CAMERA Media Analysis
11 October '11

If it was written by almost anyone other than Nicholas D. Kristof on the editorial pages of the New York Times, Is Israel Its Own Worst Enemy? October 5, 2011 would be shocking and outrageous. However, given Kristof's long history of anti-Israel writings, it's predictable and almost tiresome.

The one statement in the editorial that is mostly true is the first sentence which states “for decades, Palestinian leaders sometimes seemed to be their own people's worst enemies.” One could argue that it wasn't “sometimes” and they didn't just seem to be, they were. There can be no argument that from that sentence on, however, as the piece spirals into disregard of the facts, selective reporting, and blatant misstatements. Kristof closes with the cliché that “Friends don't let friends drive drunk,” meaning that his ceaseless rants against Israel are an act of friendship. But Kristof's rants bring to mind a different cliché, “With friends like that, who needs enemies?”

Where you stand depends on where you sit, and since Nicholas D. Kristof sits in the editorial pages of the New York Times, it's no surprise that he views the conflict between Israel and the Arabs, and indeed wider conflicts in the Middle East, as Israel's fault and more specifically as the fault of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Seen through this clouded lens, Netanyahu is “isolating his country,” is leading Israel to “national suicide,” has “thumbed (President Obama) in the eye,” “is to blame for the failure of the Middle East peace process,” has “undermined Israeli security,” and is one of Israel's “worst enemies.” If only Mr. Kristof spent half as much time acquainting himself with the facts as he does railing against the freely elected leader of a democratic country, he might know some of the following:

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