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The New York Times full editorial board took the opportunity to attack Israel's new, not fully formed as of yet, government. What is the basis for this unique action, given the nations around the world that the New York Times leaves unscathed?
The New York Times editorial board does not like former Prime Minister Netanyahu making a comeback with a government that is right of center. Keep in mind that this so-called "right-wing" government will have at most a bare majority in the Knesset, the Parliament. By no means is this an overwhelming mandate. Israel will continue to maintain a vibrant, active, well-funded opposition of leftwing parties that are within just a few seats of being in the majority.
Apparently, Democracy is not good enough for the New York Times. Writers for the "uptown daily worker," as my father used to call the New York Times, need to have a government in the 51st state which is to the liking of the Times editorial board.
Of course, this is not the first time that the New York Times has trashed Israel, Jews and the Jewish people. During the Holocaust, we now have learned that the New York Times deliberately back paged stories of genocide against the Jewish people. In the modern era, the New York Times has advocated vociferously for yet another terrorist state within the very guts of Israel, on the West Bank of the Jordan River. This terrorist state, currently headed by Mahmoud Abbas, of the Palestinian Authority, is already a dictatorship which generates plenty of terror for the people in Israel.
The Palestinian Authority is a willing partner with the terrorists of Hamas in the Gaza Strip, Hezbollah in Lebanon and Syria, and of course, the rogue regimes in Iran, Syria and other places throughout the world.
Why exactly do organizations like the New York Times support a terrorist state on the West Bank of the Jordan River? That particular area was illegally occupied by Jordan from 1948 until 1967. In 1967, it was liberated from Jordan by the Israelis. The newspaper never griped about Jordan's illegal occupation of the West Bank.
Things changed as the years progressed. One of the greatest errors was when the United States, under leadership of Bill Clinton, brokered an agreement between Israel and the Palestinian Authority, to create an autonomous region in the former Jordanian occupied West Bank of the Jordan River. The so-called Oslo Accords created the Palestinian Authority. They had exactly one election and will never have another. The United States, and the Palestinian Authority did not create an entity in the West Bank interested or capable of governing in a fair, democratic, way. It has never been accepting of Jews and Christians in the region. The Middle East is now both Christian and Jewish free. All of those marvelous ancient communities that existed throughout Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, Iraq, and Iran are gone. In Middle Eastern Muslim thinking, Christians are guilty of idolatry and deserve death, while Jews are thought to be monotheist, but can only live in the Middle East if subservient to Muslim rule. Creation of another state on the "West Bank" is a recipe for destruction, animosity, and the lack of any egalitarian principles which we hold dear in the United States.
Back to the New York Times. So, why would it attack a democratically elected Israeli government, that is subject to a strong and healthy opposition? The reason is because Israel has become for the New York Times a whipping post, a stand in for the Republicans whom they hate. Somehow the current Israeli government is conflated with a political party which the New York Times deems not worthy of existence. Nothing could be further from the truth. Israeli politics are just as complex and diverse as in America. Prime Minister Netanyahu's government may be more conservative than the opposition, but it is neither the Republican nor Democratic Party of the United States.
There is another constituency that the New York Times is talking to. American Jews, at least since the Roosevelt era, have voted predominantly Democratic. The New York Times is a Democratic rag, devoted to the support of its party. The New York Times is speaking to American Jewish Democrats, ignoring a growing and strong minority of the Jewish community which does not walk in lockstep with the left.
As for Israelis, what are they reacting to in electing parties that are now right of center? They are responding essentially to two things. The United Nations is nothing more than a combination of Third World, mostly Muslim, countries devoted to the destruction of Israel. They have no respect for democracy, or in fact, much of anything other than the condemnation of the only democratic state that the Middle East has ever known or will ever know in the future. This makes Israelis angry, as they should be. They live in a bad neighborhood, surrounded by pacifists who simply seek their destruction. The other matter that really irks Israelis are American politicians, mostly those on the left, telling them what to do, how to live, and how to survive in the very bad neighborhood in which they live. What does a Democratic Senator from New York or California know about preventing rocket attacks from Gaza, killer drones built in Iran and flown from Syria, and terrorists from the Palestinian Authority willingly strapping explosives to their chests so they can target and kill civilians? Israelis rightfully have a tremendous amount of resentment for the American left which boycotts and demonizes Israel, while making Apple one of the wealthiest companies in the world as a result of its production in China.
It is difficult for Israelis to face the blatant hypocrisy that flows from the United States, the American left, and propaganda organs like the New York Times on a daily basis, 24/7. When President Obama shamelessly attempted to influence Israeli elections by spending American taxpayer money in efforts to defeat Benajmin Netanyahu, Israelis came out and strongly voted for BiBi. Even Israelis on the center or the left, were so repulsed by Western intervention in its free political system and the overwhelming desire of the United Nations to seek the destruction of the Jewish state, that they wound up voting more right-wing than they otherwise would have.
In reality, trash like that which emanates from the New York Times and some American Democrats, is the best friend that the Israelis right can have. The new Israeli government will prioritize security, Jewish values, and the right for Jews to live in the Jewish state and the region given to the Jewish people by the League of Nations, the United Nations, and by treaty. It is unlikely that that average Israeli is going to march to the drum beaten loudly and relentlessly by the New York Times and its sycophants.
Clifford A. Rieders is a board-certified trial advocate in Williamsport.