Talking About Israel
By NICHOLAS D. KRISTOF Published in the New York Times, March 18, 2007
Democrats are railing at just about everything President Bush does, with one prominent exception: Mr. Bush’s crushing embrace of Israel.
There is no serious political debate among either Democrats or Republicans about our policy toward Israelis and Palestinians. And that silence harms America, Middle East peace prospects and Israel itself.
Within Israel, you hear vitriolic debates in politics and the news media about the use of force and the occupation of Palestinian territories. Yet no major American candidate is willing today to be half as critical of hard-line Israeli government policies as, say, Haaretz, the Israeli newspaper.
Three years ago, Israel’s minister of justice spoke publicly of photos of an elderly Palestinian woman beside the ruins of her home, after it had been destroyed by the Israeli army. He said that they reminded him of his own grandmother, who had been dispossessed by the Nazis. Can you imagine an American cabinet secretary ever saying such a thing?
One reason for the void is that American politicians have learned to muzzle themselves. In the run-up to the 2004 Democratic primaries, Howard Dean said he favored an “even-handed role” for the U.S. and was blasted for being hostile to Israel. Likewise, Barack Obama has been scolded for daring to say: “Nobody is suffering more than the Palestinian people.” In contrast, Hillary Rodham Clinton has safely refused to show an inch of daylight between herself and Prime Minister Ehud Olmert.
A second reason may be that American politicians just don’t get it. King Abdullah of Jordan spoke to Congress this month and observed: “The wellspring of regional division, the source of resentment and frustration far beyond, is the denial of justice and peace in Palestine.” Though widely criticized, King Abdullah was exactly right: from Morocco to Yemen to Sudan, the Palestinian cause arouses ordinary people in coffee shops more than almost anything else.
You can argue that Arabs pursue a double standard, focusing on repression by Israelis while ignoring greater human rights violations by fellow Arabs. But the suffering in Palestinian territories, while not remotely at the scale of brutality in Sudan or Iraq, is still tragically real.
B’Tselem, a respected Israeli human rights organization, reports that last year Palestinians killed 17 Israeli civilians (including one minor) and six Israeli soldiers. In the same period, B’Tselem said, Israeli forces killed 660 Palestinians, triple the number killed in 2005. Of the Palestinians killed in 2006, half were not taking part in hostilities at the time they were killed, and 141 were minors.
For more than half a century, the U.S. was an honest broker in the Middle East. Presidents Harry Truman, Lyndon Johnson and Ronald Reagan were warmer to Israel and Dwight Eisenhower, Jimmy Carter and George H. W. Bush a bit cooler, but all sought a balance. George W. Bush has abandoned that tradition of balance.
Hard-line Israeli policies have profoundly harmed that country’s long-term security by adding vulnerable settlements, radicalizing young Palestinians, empowering Hamas and Hezbollah, isolating Israel in the world and nurturing another generation of terrorists in Lebanon. The Israeli right’s aggressive approach has only hurt Israeli security, just as President Bush’s invasion of Iraq ended up harming U.S. interests.
The best hope for Israel in the long run isn’t a better fence or more weaponry; they can provide a measure of security in the short run but will be of little help if terrorists turn, as they eventually will if the present trajectory continues, to chemical, biological or radiological weapons. Ultimately, security for Israel will emerge only from a peace agreement with Palestinians. We even know what that peace deal will look like: the Geneva accord, reached in 2003 by private Israeli and Palestinian negotiators.
M. J. Rosenberg of the Israel Policy Forum headlined a recent column, “Pandering Not Required.” He wisely called on American presidential candidates instead to prove their support for Israel by pledging: “If I am elected president, I will do everything in my power to bring about negotiations between Israelis and Palestinians with the goal of achieving peace and security for Israel and a secure state for the Palestinians.”
Last summer, after Hezbollah killed three Israeli soldiers and kidnapped two others, Prime Minister Olmert invaded Lebanon and thus transformed Hezbollah into a heroic force in much of the Arab world. President Bush would have been a much better friend to Israel if he had tried to rein in Mr. Olmert. So let’s be better friends and stop biting our tongues.
March 19, 2007 at 9:59 pm
Yessss! Why is there so little common sense and fairness in American foreign policy? Why are we such sheep to be cowed (haha) by the prodominant political correctness? Why is there no direct between sight/perception and brain that does not get fogged by cultural pressures?
March 19, 2007 at 10:49 pm
Yes, we do need more balanced approch in dealing with the Israeli-Palestinian issue. A just lasting peace for Palestinians will enhance U.S image in the Middle East and at the same time will guaranteea Israel security. It is time for American politicians to dare to speak and take a stand concerning this sensetive and important issue.
March 20, 2007 at 12:51 am
Kristof has made a mild but persuasive case for deepening the case for significant dialogue by US policy makers and candidates in regard to Israel. I am among those who appreciates what he is daring to say.
March 20, 2007 at 3:13 am
++++++++++++++++
“Many rabbis and professionals have told me recently that they fear for their jobs should they even begin to articulate their doubts about Israeli policy–much less give explicit support to calls for an end to the occupation.”
– Rabbi Michael Lerner
April 28, 2002 in the Los Angeles Times
+++
“Deep down, I believe that a little anti-Semitism is a good thing for the Jews - reminds us who we are.” –Jay Lefkowitz (NYT Magazine. Feb.12, 1995. Page 65). Jay Lefkowitz is now Deputy Assistant to the President for Domestic Policy. A sick man! Don’t you think?
March 20, 2007 at 3:58 am
This quote from Kristof hits the nail on the head. This concept needs to be repeated over and over until otherwise rational people get it:
“The Israeli right’s aggressive approach has only hurt Israeli security, just as President Bush’s invasion of Iraq ended up harming U.S. interests.”
And I do believe that, as with the evolution of opinion that we saw regarding the Iraq War (but could scarcely have imagined a few years ago), there will also be a similar evolution of opinion regarding U.S. foreign policy towards Israel and Palestine. The key is just to start somewhere, and not to give up. The tipping point is within sight.
March 20, 2007 at 4:32 am
Hello,
I would like to personally thank you for such a rare message. Just recently, we began to open a group on a certain University Campus, and already “certain” groups are terrified because of the message we carry. So its really great to see that there are people left with a conscious out there.
March 20, 2007 at 1:55 pm
Thank you for saying this. US policies are not making the world safe for America or Israel.
Our cowardly politicians fear one thing only. The loss of contributions from powerful lobbies.
How can we change this?
March 20, 2007 at 3:21 pm
Not surprising but as often is the case, Kristof says what needs to be said. The following point should be reflected on: Israelis are terrified–in a sense irrationally, in another sense understandably–because the current policies actually increase their sense of isolation and abandonment by the world. The less the U.S. actually protects them by supporting peace with security, the more the U.S. (like a drug dealer) offers them the false solution of more aggression, the more frightened they become. Thus do right wing extremist policies of yesterday become mainstream policies of today–through creating self-fulfilling prophecies. ” The fear among American politicians and in the media extends to denying an even more important truth: despite their suffering under Israeli Occupation, Palestinians not long ago showed an overwhelming support for the Geneva Accords and for Abbas who advocated for the two-state solution. Sadly, they have waited in vain for the U.S. to make it happen.
March 20, 2007 at 3:41 pm
When we hold our children accountable and stop them from running with scissors we are good parents. When we stop our country from turning a blind eye and being influenced by AIPAC without questions, we ultimately will help Israel grow into the moral country it is desitined to be. However, if we don’t it will ultimatley be the cause of a war that our children will suffer from. Non-violence is the only answer. Those who think otherwise are doomed to continue this path and we all have seen the results.
March 20, 2007 at 4:14 pm
Its refreshing to finally see somebody out there in the media with a conscience. It is extremely brave of you to merely tell the truth nowadays. Hopefully this will inspire other journalists to do the same in order to balance the crushing bias against the Palestinians. It is necessary to accurately depict what is actually happening in order to bring about more understanding of the REAL issues and threats facing us as a country.
March 20, 2007 at 4:22 pm
It is so refreshing and encouraging to have someone publish an article about the “REAL” problem - U.S. foreign policy, specifically our government’s marriage to Israel. If our mainstream “propaganda” media outlets would reports on the decades of atrocities committed against the Palestinian people by Israel more people would get it. Unfortunately, there are too many uneducated and/or educated Americans that are gullible or too lazy to find this out on their own. BTW…this is what fuels terrorism and hatred towards America.
Condrat’s to Mr. Kristof for telling it like it is. I only hope he doesn’t get labeled as an anti-Semite for revealing the facts.
I recommend reading “Beyond Chutzpah” by Norman G. Finklestein. It’s about the misuse of anti-Semitism and the abuse of history and Jimmy Carter’s Palestine…Peace Not apartheid.
Time to wake up!
Peace
March 20, 2007 at 8:04 pm
what a wonderful article. there is hope yet. thank you for being a voice of truth and supporter of justice.
March 20, 2007 at 8:05 pm
thank you for a wonderful article. thank you for being a voice of reason and a supporter of justice for ALL. i wish there were more journalist with your heart and bravery.
March 20, 2007 at 8:06 pm
I agree with Kristof but would add the following: I think the U.S. (and of course Israel itself) should do what Kristof calls for, but not only for the long-term security of Israel. I also want it because the Palestinians are suffering terribly and deserve to be treated humanely and with respect. They deserve their own state along the 1967 borders (at the very least!) without any interference from neighboring Israel. Yes, the U.S. must reign in Israel, and yes… do it for Israel’s own sake. But also do it because it’s the right thing to do for the Palestinians too!
March 20, 2007 at 8:10 pm
I read somewhere that “the goal of a good journalist is to cover the news as impartially as possible - without fear or favor and to treat readers, news, sources, advertisers and others fairly and openly”. Nicholas D. Kristof is the embodiment of this principle !!!
March 21, 2007 at 12:52 am
Thank you, Mr. Kristof. I am so very grateful.
March 21, 2007 at 1:58 pm
As an American Jew, this is an important conversation to continue to have in an honest and balanced manner. Thank you for naming the issues and speaking out from a position that embraces both justice and (eventually) peace.
March 21, 2007 at 3:02 pm
Bless you for thanking Nick. You can imagine the harassment he must already be enduring from the forces determined to preserve the deadly status quo. The latter will be out there in all their thousands. We can be out there in our millions. For the sake of the United States….For the sake of Israel…..For the sake of the Palestinians. Keep up the good work.
March 21, 2007 at 3:44 pm
There is a great documentary on this subject that everybody should see: http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-6604775898578139565
March 21, 2007 at 4:20 pm
Good for you, Nick! It’s great to see a journalist who has the stones to write this column. My hat’s off to you! Now, let’s see if there are any other hardy souls who take your side in this.
March 21, 2007 at 5:40 pm
[...] One of the most courageous and talented journalists in America today is Nicholas Kristof. He has traveled from the brothels of Cambodia (to rescue child-prostitutes) to the refugee camps of Darfur (to report on genocide) often at great personal risk. On March 18, 2007 he took what may be seen as his greatest professional risk. Namely, he took on the Israel Lobby in his column Talking About Israel. [...]
March 21, 2007 at 9:22 pm
AIPAC does not represent majority of American Jews and it does not even represent Israel per se. It represents solely NeoCon wing of Repuboican Party and Likud (Netanyahu primarily).
See Massing’s article in NY Review:
http://www.nybooks.com/articles/19062
and me on dailykos:
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2007/3/16/15855/6096
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2007/2/27/13822/2376
Thanks.
March 21, 2007 at 11:22 pm
justice requires taking the side of justice & reality…not israel or palestine…kristof is aware & dares to write the truth.
March 21, 2007 at 11:44 pm
In addition, its hard to blame a people who have had their land seized for specious reasons, and didn’t originate hostilities in the first place. They were just Palestinians living in Palestine when all of the sudden some folks come along and claim your land as their new country. Who wouldn’t be upset. After the despicable behavior of Israel in their recent invasion of Lebanon, maybe an “even-handed” approach isn’t what is needed. A so called “even-handed” approach seems necessarily farcical anyway given the truth about the history of this one-sided atrocity.
March 22, 2007 at 11:38 am
Thank you Mr. Kristof. You’ve just taken “one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind” by having the courage to say we need an honest discourse about the issue. How obvious; and how courageous. Because NOW we will all witness the fallout and the backlash, the incredible wave of outrage that will emanate from AIPAC and their millions of minions who will brook NO DEBATE, NO DISCOURSE on the subject in this country. Former President Carter was vilified by them; Congressmen and women have lost their seats because of them; media moguls have been tamed and silenced by them; academics have been derided by them; and the American people have been propagandized by them. They allow nothing to interfere with their agenda in the political realm in this country so that they can continue with their strategy in their own country. AIPAC has historically silenced any debate in this country, but they must have a dumbed down American citizenry for their tactical and strategic success in doing so. The debate which threatens them so much is what Kristof, Carter and others have called for in books and columns, and academic papers. Such a small thing; but such a huge thing at the same time.
March 22, 2007 at 1:59 pm
[...] One of the most courageous and talented journalists in America today is Nicholas Kristof. He has traveled from the brothels of Cambodia (to rescue child-prostitutes) to the refugee camps of Darfur (to report on genocide) often at great personal risk. On March 18, 2007 he took what may be seen as his greatest professional risk. Namely, he took on the Israel Lobby in his column Talking About Israel. [...]
March 22, 2007 at 3:15 pm
In quoting Tomy Lapid’s inane reamrk about the Holocaust-link with the Arab-Israel conflict (just as he did with Yifat Alkobi here), Kristoff does not display any intellectual ability but rather either he is being demogogic or plain simplistically uninformed. To be an honest broker, all you have to do is answer this question: “if there was no occupation prior to 1967, niether any settlements, and yet there was terror perpetrated by Arabs, and they establsihed the Palestinie Liberation Organization in 1964, also prior to 1967, what problem will the yiedling up of territories and disbaning of communities solve that existed prior to 1967? What Palestine were they intending to liberate prior to 1967?
March 22, 2007 at 3:32 pm
Good to know Yisrael, that a wing-nut, settler leader devoted to re-building the temple mount on the ruins of al-Aqsa is actually wondering what might have achieved peace back in the early 1960’s….
But we can all play that game. Was it peace your heroes Begin and Shamir were after when they slaughtered women and children at Deir Yassin? When they murdered Count Bernadotte? When they committed terrorist acts like blowing up the King David Hotel? Surely not… it was the liberation of their homeland. So don’t play the ‘tembel’ here. Palestinians want, and deserve, their own national liberation to the same degree and level of sovereignty as Jews do. And they want the same attention to detail and property rights in Palestine that Jews have demanded - and won - in Europe.
The Arab terror in Israel and Palestine is the bitter harvest created by the likes of Jewish nationalists and religious extremists since the dispossession of the Palestinian people began. Terror that is immoral, unjustified, and barbaric; but certainly not any more of a mystery than the law of gravity.
If we can have a terrorist sympathizer like you talking about peace as though it were a good thing, then truly we are living in the messianic age. Just one more push Yisrael towards treating Palestinian lives, rights and national aspirations with the care and concern you give towards Jewish interests, and perhaps he will finally arrive.
March 22, 2007 at 8:50 pm
What is needed, suggests Correspondent Ari Shavit in an Israeli newspaper, is a courageous, creative and sober Israeli initiative that offers thinking out of the box.
The Israeli initiative must have four aspects:
1. Israeli willingness to carry out a limited withdrawal in Judea and Samaria (the Occupied Territories) even without a peace agreement;
2. Palestinian willingness to turn the settlements Israel evacuates into rehabilitation sites for Palestinian refugees;
3. commitment by the moderate Arab quartet to fund the rehabilitation of the refugees and to guarantee that the rehabilitation sites will not become bases for terror; and
4. renewed international recognition of Israel as a Jewish and democratic nation state that solves the problem of Jewish refugees in exactly the same way the future Palestinian state will solve the problem of Palestinian refugees.
An Israeli initiative in this spirit will not bring an end to the conflict. It will not unravel the Israeli-Palestinian entanglement with one magical thrust. But it will create a gradual change in the situation that will indicate a direction that Israelis and Palestinians should follow.
It will prove that Israel is giving up the ethos of settlement while the Palestinians are beginning to move beyond the ethos of the return.
It will prepare the awareness of two tortured nations for a genuine historical compromise.
It will oblige Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Jordan not only to preach reconciliation but to take responsibility for what the strategy of reconciliation actually requires.
This is the right thing the moderate West, the moderate Arabs and the moderate Israelis can do during this difficult time in the face of the rise of extremism.
March 22, 2007 at 9:19 pm
Dear Clenchner, Since I really don’t want to even go near a flaming situation let me just say that your portrayal of me is simply factually incorrect, associating me to acts, thoughts and positions I do not hold. I am not a terrorist sympathizer, just for starters but I am sure, for you to feel comfortable, I must be evil. You assign Arab terror to Jewish nationalists and religious extremists when (a) Arab terror began in 1920 (and I am being generous here); and (b) the leaders of the pre-state community were socialists and they did most of the killing of Arabs in places like Sassa, Ein Zeitun and othe locations although I will of course admit that the counter-terror operations of the Irgun in 1937-39 were quite significant, causing much death and I cannot deny that history, even though a careful reading of Sefer Hahagana and Sefer HaPalmach will reveal a whole slew of counter-terror actions that were conveniently ignored while blame was assigned to the right-wing. And I do admit to defining the acts against the Arab terror and those of resistance to the British occupation two different categories. You are caring for your daughter and I for my two (at present) granddaughters. Peace will come when Jews unite so that the enemy does not take advantage of our divisiveness. For more of my thinking, see, for example, this last posting here. A Gut Shabbos.
March 23, 2007 at 12:49 am
I suspect that the indifference of most Americans to the Israel-Palestine conflict, in spite of our government’s profound and lop-sided involvement in it, stems sadly from our racist past. In the early part of the 20th century, America was a profoundly racist place, as we all recognize now. Domestically, we have gone a long way toward addressing and correcting that racism, but what review has there ever been of the foreign policies of the racist nation that we were?
It must be admitted, among honest people, that much of the Zionist enterprise was a thoroughly racist undertaking: spiriting a mostly European people into an Arab land, and denying that land’s inhabitants self-determination long enough that the transplants could establish a viable state. And now we proceed as though that aspect of the situation is irrelevant, as though time began anew in 1948, after a correction of another racist endeavor. The dark-skinned people of the world beyond our borders may be largely liberated from slavery, but it is still very much as though they are expected to sit at the back of the bus and to use separate and unequal schools, public toilets, and drinking fountains.
Probably a history of subjugation has lowered the expectations of a lot of people in the world, but I can’t see that lasting; I fear that we may have only seen the faintest hint of the backlash that is to come.
March 26, 2007 at 2:32 pm
Finally, a word from the NYT on the primary issue facing America. Why do we carry the atrocities of the Sharon/Olmert governments around our necks like some ancient albatross and its heinous curse? The only thing that might help Kristof’s argument might be a litany of what we have surpported by giving unrestrained aid to these regimes in Israel. It’s easy to do. I published just such a list a week ago in the Atlantic Free Press in the Netherlands and MWC News out of Canada. How often do you see any of this discussion in America’s “free press.” Thanks Mr. Kristof. Lead on.
March 27, 2007 at 11:00 am
Bravo, Mr. Kristoff. Your report shines the light that professors John Mearsheimer and Steven Walf hoped for when they published their “Israel Lobby” report a year ago.
March 29, 2007 at 9:39 pm
Thanks, Mr. Kristof, for furthering this vital discussion. Let’s push for acceptance of the Saudi 2002 peace proposal. What a great thing it would be for the Palestinians, the Israelis, and the world if it happened.
March 30, 2007 at 3:27 pm
If only Move-On read Mr. Kristof’s columns. The pandering to the right wing zealots that dominate Israel is bringing the United States to its knees. Thank you for your courage, Mr. Kristof.
March 30, 2007 at 4:48 pm
Up until now, Nicholas Kristof has been the man who has kept the Darfur genocide a focus of American attention. Now he has chosen to go, almost alone, down the perilous path where other nationally reknowned editorialists fear to tread: into the shadow of Israel’s aparthied wall and I thank him for it!
April 4, 2007 at 9:42 pm
In 1992, I completed my Master’s thesis in Political Science/International Relations, in which I quoted many Jewish sources who all indicated much the same thing as the writer, Mr. Kristof, says. Peace in the region requires that a complete discussion of this topic take place. Because both the Palestinians and the Israelis believe that they have a separate and distinct national identity, which cannot be ruled by the other, and because they do not believe that the other can legitimately rule them, each needs their own sovereignty, in their own state, in order for there to be peace between them.
It is not a question of who started the troubles, because dealing with the past is not a solution for the present. There are many ways to achieve a peace that is fair for both parties, and which gives each party what they desire: self-rule, security, national borders which can be relied upon, etc. It makes no sense for the U.S. to avoid speaking about things which are diligently debated on a regular basis within Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories. The majority of Israelis believe that a separate
Palestinian state is inevitable. Prolonging the occurrence of that event will have the effect of prolonging the negative consequences for both peoples. Continuing in a constant state of war or near-war is devastating to Israel’s economy, as well as the psychological well-being of its population. Continuing to live under occupation is also devastating to the Palestinians, economically, socially, and psychologically.
My good friend, the late mayor of Ramallah, Karim Khalaf, used to say, “Believe me,
when peace comes, it won’t be just peace for the Arabs, or peace for the Jews; it will be peace for everyone!” The parties themselves are beginning to realize this, and it is hoped that they will be successful this time in reaching an agreement. It would be unfortunate if the U.S. were the last to get involved in seeing that a lasting peace is achieved there. Our reputation in the world could be enhanced by involvement in a positive way as early as possible.
April 5, 2007 at 5:05 am
Yes, Nicholas Kristof should be commended for speaking out about the Israeli occupation. Perhaps one can even hope that the long, drawn out US defeat in Iraq will make possible a solution to the Palestinian refugee problem and even a resolution of institutionalized racism throughout historic Palestine.
April 18, 2007 at 5:01 pm
[...] d’opinion Nicholas Kristof a également lancé un pavé dans la mare de Georges W. Bush en signant un commentaire virulent [...]