{"id":2629,"date":"2020-05-15T08:48:00","date_gmt":"2020-05-15T08:48:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/paju.org\/?p=2629"},"modified":"2020-05-13T18:52:59","modified_gmt":"2020-05-13T18:52:59","slug":"end-of-occupation-no-1005","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/paju.org\/fr\/end-of-occupation-no-1005\/","title":{"rendered":"\u00ab End of Occupation \u00bb No 1005"},"content":{"rendered":"

Israeli envoy calls Thomas Friedman & Dennis Ross spokesmen for Israel (who\u2019ve now been replaced by an algorithm)<\/strong><\/h3>\n

By Philip Weiss, <\/strong> April<\/a> 29, 2020<\/strong><\/p>\n

We always said that Tom Friedman (the New York Times columnist) and Dennis Ross (the former White House Middle East negotiator) were \"\"propagandists for Israel; well, a longtime former Israeli ambassador has confirmed the roles.<\/p>\n

Ido Aharoni, former consul general in New York, gave a webinar <\/a>to the Streicker Center of Temple Emanu-El in New York today about threats to Israel and how they are changing. The elites aren\u2019t working for us in the same way, he said, since the smartphone came along.<\/p>\n

In the old days, reality was mediated to us through the eys of a handful of people, the political leaders, the commentators, the pundits, the influencers, the VIPs of the old world. For example, Israel was pre 2007, the introduction of the first iphone\u2013 smartphone, Israel was mediated or communicated to the world through the eyes of people like Tom Friedman and Dennis Ross and of course the political leadership. And they were great people, they\u2019re all still very active. It\u2019s just that our voices\u2013 their voice is not being heard as before for a very simple reason, we are now able to design our own informational feed using a very sophisticated and precise algorithm<\/strong>. It allows the leadership to actually address the people directly by bypassing the elite, those people that communicated reality to the masses before. <\/em><\/p>\n

It\u2019s happening in the United States, obviously you see how President Trump is using his twitter account, but it\u2019s also happening in Israel, it\u2019s happening almost in every western country. It\u2019s a disruption to the classic model of representative democracy. <\/em><\/p>\n

Ross has long had this reputation of an Israel lobbyist inside the executive branch. In 2005 his colleague Aaron David Miller said that the U.S. negotiating team at Camp David functioned as \u201cIsrael\u2019s lawyer.\u201d In 2016, Ross embraced the role in what he thought were private comments to the Central Synagogue in NY<\/a>: American Jews need to be advocates for Israel.<\/p>\n

There are some in the Jewish community who basically want to look at the Palestinians and think that the Palestinians really are the ones who have been forthcoming, it\u2019s only Israel that\u2019s holding back. It\u2019s not true. \u2026 And so when we raise questions about what Israel needs to do it shouldn\u2019t be seen as if somehow we\u2019re advocates for the Palestinians. Plenty of others are advocates for the Palestinians. We don\u2019t need to be advocates for Palestinians. We need to be advocates for Israel.<\/em><\/p>\n

Tom Friedman also appeared to embrace the Israel advocacy role in an appearance at the 92d Street Y <\/a>last year. When asked if he has Jewish \u201cfatigue\u201d over Israel\u2019s problems, Friedman assured the audience, \u201cIsrael had me at Hello\u2026 Don\u2019t worry\u2026 In times of crisis, I know where I will be. When the Jewish state is under threat<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n

I was in Beijing\u2026 I was driving to the airport. Just as I was coming in an El Al plane landed\u2026 And I just thought, what an amazing time to be alive as a Jew in this era of the Jewish state when an El Al plane flies from Tel Aviv to Beijing. And I still get a buzz out of that. OK? And I know about that fatigue. I feel it sometime myself. But I never feel it when I\u2019m in Israel.<\/em><\/p>\n

What does worry me most is\u2013 I met Abe Foxman in Herzl [Zionist Jewish] camp in Webster, Wisconsin, in 1962. We reenacted the Dreyfus trial every summer. Twice I was the French officer who got to rip his epaulets off and break his sword, OK?<\/em><\/p>\n

Israel had me at hello. Whatever you think folks\u2013 don\u2019t worry. In times of crisis, I know where I will be. When the Jewish state is under threat\u2013<\/em><\/p>\n

But I worry about\u2013 I\u2019m 66, I\u2019ve been the foreign affairs columnist [at the New York Times] for 21 years\u2013 what about the next generation? Will the next foreign affairs columnist\u2013 we got David Brooks, we got Bret Stephens, we\u2019re all sort of the same generation, one that socialized in a different era\u2013 Will they [the next foreign affairs columnist] get that buzz when they see an El Al plane landing in Beijing? That\u2019s what worries me.<\/em><\/p>\n

Philip Weiss<\/a> is senior editor of Mondoweiss.net <\/em><\/p>\n

Adapted from:<\/strong> https:\/\/mondoweiss.net\/2020\/04\/israeli-envoy-calls-tom-friedman-and-dennis-ross-spokesmen-for-israel-whove-now-been-replaced-by-an-algorithm\/<\/a><\/p>\n

Also: The New York Times \u2018Transparency\u2019 And Journalistic Objectivity:<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n