An obligation to fact-check opinion pieces? Not at the NY Times

Leo Rennert..
American Thinker..
06 August '12..

At first blush, Avraham Burg might seem to have the right credentials to write an opinion piece in the New York Times about Israel's past, present and future -- former speaker of Israel's parliament; author of a book about the Holocaust and chairman of the" Center for Renewal of Democracy." At least, that's the way the Times sums up his bona fides in the Sunday Review Section of its Aug. 5 edition atop an article titled, "Israel's Fading Democracy."

But don't be fooled by those Burg bio credits. Once upon a time, Burg rose to political prominence in leftist Israeli politics. But no more. In recent years, he has become increasingly isolated as an anti-Israel, anti-Zionist crank who blinds himself to existential dangers faced by his country from the likes of Iran, Hezbb'llah and Hamas, and instead unleashes a flood of blame-Israel screeds.

For example, in an interview with Haaretz, Burg opined that "to define the State of Israel as a Jewish state is the key to its end." For good measure, to cleanse Israel of its Jewishness, he favors abrogating the Law of Return, which unconditionally opens its doors to any and all Jewish immigrants.

But since the Times shares many of his over-the-top anti-Zionist views, it's not surprising that the paper gives him prominent exposure in the Sunday paper.

So Burg gets to expound on his gloom-and-doom forecasts that Israel is headed for the abyss. Iran may be working overtime to develop nuclear weapons while its leaders call for the eradication of the Jewish state, but in Burg's view, it's Israel that pursues a "misguided war with Iran" and Netanyahu who is a "warmongering prime minister." With Iran's Ahmadinejad and his anti-Semitic pronouncements, Burg finds no fault.

Rants From a Failed Israeli Politician: Despising Israeli Democracy

Jonathan S. Tobin..
Commentary/Contentions..
05 August '12..

You might think that even the New York Times would get tired of publishing rants from failed Israeli politicians denouncing not only their nation’s current government but also the entire society that had rejected them. But apparently the newspaper’s appetite for such tirades is undiminished as the publication of Avraham Burg’s in the Times’ Sunday edition today. There isn’t much that is particularly original about Burg’s piece that takes the point of view that Israel is on the brink of no longer being a democracy and is intolerant of minority views. That this is not remotely closely to being the truth is no barrier to its publication since it is exactly what American leftists want to be told. His views are an absurd conflation of egotism and blindness but his foolishness is not limited to his analysis of his own country, he also understands nothing about U.S.-Israel alliance and the strength of the across-the-board support the Jewish state has here.

In the conclusion of his article in which he envisions a post-Zionist government of Israel that will reject Jewish nationalism in favor of something more inclusive, he claims:

When a true Israeli democracy is established, our prime minister will go to Capitol Hill and win applause from both sides of the aisle.

That is, I suppose, a shot at Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, whom he accused earlier in the piece of being a “warmonger.” But as anyone who bothered to watch Netanyahu’s address to a joint meeting of Congress last year, he was widely cheered by both Republicans and Democrats with both parties competing with each other to show their enthusiasm for their Israeli ally. This is the sort of obvious mistake that any editor, even one with no love for Israel, should have caught. That it wasn’t tells us that the gatekeepers at the Times are as out of touch with reality as Burg.

From Nataf to J'lem

It's hypocritical that Jewish Sheikh Jarrah protesters retire to homes built on former Arab land.


Seth Frantzman
Terra Incognita/JPost
13 April '10

On January 22 the weekly leftist and Arab protesters in Sheikh Jarrah were joined by a number of Israeli Jewish notables, including former Knesset speaker Avraham Burg and one-time education minister Yossi Sarid.

They were protesting against Jewish settlers moving into Jewish houses whose residents had been forced to flee in 1948, when they ended up on the Jordanian side of the border.

On March 7, Burg explained his feelings in an op-ed, “Once justice dwelled here. Now the settlers do, murderers of the nation’s soul... We shall not be silent when Ahmed and Aysha are sleeping in the street outside their home.” For him the protesters were the “people of integrity.” Jews must “leave Sheikh Jarrah now!”

Another celebrity activist in the struggle in Sheikh Jarrah is Sahar Vardi, daughter of Dr. Amiel Vardi of the Hebrew University. Sahar, who refused to do her army service, claimed in an interview that it is “unconscionable for me to live in my home in the German Colony and study whatever I like” when Arabs are being evicted from homes in east Jerusalem.

In late March another Sheikh Jarrah Jewish activist named Michael Solsberry was arrested at his home in the east Jerusalem neighborhood of Pisgat Ze’ev.

There is a common stream that runs through those who are active against the occupation. Many are from leading families, come from a wealthy background and live in the most expensive neighborhoods. Nothing in itself is wrong with this, except when one considers what they demand of others. While they claim to be at the forefront of human rights, their activism obscures a darker truth. They believe it is acceptable to live where they want without being protested against, but deny that others might live in certain areas they deem to be off limits.

(Read full article)

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