Israel Matzav

The New York Times' know-it-all

As Rudoren tells it, [Sheldon] Adelson "tried to school American reporters on the history of the Middle East" – the emphasis being on "tried," since Rudoren and her colleagues are apparently much too expert and knowledgeable to be schooled by a mere "conservative casino mogul" who is "close to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu."
 

As dessert was served, Adelson "held court, offering his characteristically unvarnished views," and in Rudoren's characteristically unvarnished view this is when the day's most ill-founded and impolitic statements were uttered:

As for the Palestinians, Mr. Adelson said, “They teach their children that Jews are descended from swine and apes, pigs and monkeys.” Then he questioned their existence as a distinct ethnic group, saying they were “southern Syrians” or Egyptians until Yasir Arafat, who was leader of the Palestine Liberation Organization, “came along with a pitcher of Kool-Aid and gave it to everybody to drink and sold them the idea of Palestinians.”

These ideas, staples of the far right, are deeply offensive to the Palestinians — perhaps partly the point.

Does Rudoren really believe that these claims are mere staples of the far right, and thus, at least in her view, incorrect and without foundation? If so, she does indeed need to be schooled in both current events and Middle East history.

Labels: anti-Israel media bias, Jodi Rudoren, New York Times, Sheldon Adelson

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 9:42 PM