On Oct. 31, The Jewish Week departed from constructive criticism to publish an Israel-bashing Editorial, “Bibi Takes On The World.” At the same time, The Atlantic Monthly’s Jeffrey Goldberg, known for reflecting the administration’s views, was writing a column where he quoted vulgar and insulting attacks against Israel’s prime minister by (still) unnamed senior administration officials.
You never reported Goldberg’s unprecedented vulgar piece. Yet Goldberg did cite your Editorial (from the Jewish world’s “flagship newspaper”) as evidence of our community’s support for his attack on Netanyahu, a fact that The Jewish Week proudly referenced on its web site.
The Jewish Week and a journalist reflecting administration policy working from the same script when Israel has become the world’s punching bag? Unacceptable. Not even close.
We need to keep in mind that it is the Israelis whose lives are on the line and who have the democratic right to determine their own future. And our “flagship” paper needs to tell the whole truth, including Netanyahu’s considerable mistreatment by the Obama administration, which is letting Palestinian leaders get away with libel and even murder.
Democratic Israel needs and deserves our loving and intelligent support in these very difficult days, not our retreat to a shtetl mentality.
Manhattan
