Confused about the latest events concerning Palestine and Israel? Not to worry: The New York Times has provided readers with a steady stream of commentary from regular columnists and guests, letting us know what to think about everything from Israeli elections to actions at the United Nations.
We have heard from Tom Friedman, David Brooks, Roger Cohen, Dennis Ross and the editors themselves. All of them have provided material for TimesWarp treatment, but health problems have forced this blog to remain silent through it all. However, we now offer a series of critiques that have appeared elsewhere:
Former United Nations rapporteur on Palestine-Israel, Richard Falk writes about many of the columnists in a blog post titled “The Irrelevance of Liberal Zionism.”
Palestinian commentator Sam Bahour pens an open letter to Times editors in response to one of Roger Cohen’s columns, “Gaza Is Nowhere.”
Mondoweiss critiques David Brooks’s column, “The Age of Bibi,” and demolishes a piece by Dennis Ross—“Stop Giving Palestinians a Pass”—simply by reprinting readers’ online comments. In addition, Mondoweiss calls out the Times for excluding any real critics of Israel from its regular stable of columnists.
And in the Israeli paper Haaretz, American Peter Beinart takes on the piece by Dennis Ross in an article titled “What David Ben-Gurion Could Teach Dennis Ross About Israel, Palestinians and the ICC.”
Every one is well worth your time.
Barbara Erickson
Dear Barbara
I want to thank you for the post below, which I found very helpful, particularly as it introduced me to sites I didn’t know.
But I do hope you get well soon and can resume your TimesWarp work. We need you!
Best wishes Andrew Tarnowski
Date: Wed, 7 Jan 2015 03:16:20 +0000
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Many thanks, Andrew. I am working on getting better!
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Sorry to hear of the health problems, especially over the holidays. Be well, many thanks for all you do, and keep those blogs coming.
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Thanks. I hope to be back to normal soon.
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Ms. Erickson, I read at one sitting each of the links you provided. It’s so helpful to me, as an aging, increasingly disorganized and confused (not to mention continually disheartened) supporter of inalienable Palestinian rights, that you created this opportunity. Thank you! Viva Palestine!
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Yes, Viva Palestina!
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Thanks Barbara – I will look through all those links. I did read Dennis Ross’ ridiculous op ed, and then I scanned through the comments and was sort of heartened and amazed to see what a large percentage of the readers’ picks were ardently, incredibly critical of Israel – there are so many more than the few MW quoted. Could real change be afoot? I am reminded that Dr. Frank Luntz (a man who should be on trial for serial murders IMO) is now saying that “zionism” has become a dirty word among the elite – I think he means the intellectual elite. Thanks again for your efforts.
Glad you are feeling better and wishing you good health!
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Many thanks, Dabney!
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Thanks for this, Barbara. And your health return. I was missing your voice. Neil Hertz ________________________________
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I hope to get back into the swing of it soon. Thanks, Neil.
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A great compendium. Thanks, Barb. Has anyone yet deconstructed Jodi Rudoren’s front page “analysis” today. From the very first sentence she’s Jodi all the way, sharing the “analysis” of her Israeli mentors. Palestinians’ moves have been “widely regarded” as simply a way to avoid negotiations. Yeah.
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Yes, here’s a link to a critique of her piece: http://mondoweiss.net/2015/01/reporter-palestinians-concessions. It struck me that she was echoing Dennis Ross’s op ed comments about how Palestinians don’t have to pay the price.
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