jeff goldberg

A self-defeating announcement from NPR, via Romenesko:
Memo from NPR's director of morning programmingFrom: Ellen McDonnell To: ME list; Davar Ardalan; Jenni Bergal Sent: Thu Mar 12 15:48:24 2009Subject: saving money As of April 1 NPR is cancelling all newspaper subscriptions. We are making some arrangments to get the Wall Street Journal either on line or hard copy. You have until tomorrow to appeal this if there is a solid reason why you should be exempt. This is a cost saving measure company wide.
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2:54 PM (3 hours ago)
Rothkopf: Freeman's Great, Walt Cashes in on Anti-Semitism

from Jeffrey Goldberg
David Rothkopf, one of Charles Freeman's most ardent supporters, has this to say about another Freeman supporter, the cynical Stephen Walt:
Freeman, I can forgive. He had every reason to be angry. Walt, not now, not ever, because whatever the pale intellectual merits of his hackneyed argument may be, he and Mearsheimer know full well that their prominence on this issue has come not because they have had a single new insight but rather because they were willing and one can only believe inclined to play to a crowd whose "views" were fueled by prejudice and worse. They may not be anti-Semites themselves but they made a cynical decision to cash in on anti-Semitism by offering to dress up old hatreds in the dowdy Brooks Brothers suits of the Kennedy School and the University of Chicago. They did what the most desperate members of academia do, they signed up to be rent-a-validators, akin to expert witnesses who support the defense of felons with specious theories served up on fancy diplomas. They would argue that they were daring to speak truth to power. In reality they were giving one crowd in particular precisely what it wanted to hear.Read the whole thing.
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10:10 AM (8 hours ago)
Patrick Leahy, Friend of Israel

from Jeffrey Goldberg
Alert reader K.R. points me to Scott McConnell at The American Conservative, who writes:
Patrick Leahy, long serving Vermont Senator and chairman of the Judiciary committee, compared the plight of the Palestinians to that of his Irish ancestors in the 19th century. This is huge in American politics; everyone loves the Irish (or at least pretends to)... How long before Jeffrey Goldberg and John Podhoretz claim that Leahy is a rabid anti-Semite?This is a thuggish new tactic of the anti-Israel lobby, to accuse Jews it doesn't like of committing libel in the future. If McConnell had bothered to ask me, I would have told him that I find Leahy more-or-less reasonable on the Middle East. His last speech, I thought, over-romanticized Hamas, and short-shrifted the Hamas propensity for self-destructiveness, but overall, Leahy has been simultaneously a supporter of Israel and a critic of some its excesses. Here he is in January on the Gaza War:
Hamas' unilateral decision to break the ceasefire was deplorable. It is clear that rather than work for peace, Hamas used the ceasefire to amass more powerful and longer range weapons. Its actions should be universally condemned, and they will achieve nothing positive for the cause of the Palestinian people. Those who have collaborated in supplying weapons that are being used to terrorize and harm innocent civilians in Israel are complicit in the suffering and destruction that has occurred on both sides.
For its part, Israel used the ceasefire to pressure Hamas through a blockade that, in the absence of a long-term strategy, has caused extreme hardship for the Palestinian people collectively in Gaza but done nothing to change Hamas' militant policies. The blockade was not coupled with an effective strategy to address the underlying causes of the conflict. I don't see much to complain about it in his analysis. I was just in Israel last week; the rockets are still falling, so I think it's hard to argue that the Gaza war was an overwhelming success from Israel's perspective. I think Bibi Netanyahu, when he comes to Washington, should spend some time listening to reasonable critics like Leahy, as well as to some of Israel's less critical supporters. And I think Scott McConnell shouldn't libel people with whom he disagrees. But I'm afraid we're more apt to see Netanyahu and Leahy sit down than we are to see Scott McConnell drop his thuggish tactics.
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10:10 AM (8 hours ago)
Washington Post: Freeman is a Conspiracy Theorist

from Jeffrey Goldberg
The Washington Post editorial today on Chas is a must-read:
What's striking about the charges by Mr. Freeman and like-minded conspiracy theorists is their blatant disregard for such established facts. Mr. Freeman darkly claims that "it is not permitted for anyone in the United States" to describe Israel's nefarious influence. But several of his allies have made themselves famous (and advanced their careers) by making such charges -- and no doubt Mr. Freeman himself will now win plenty of admiring attention. Crackpot tirades such as his have always had an eager audience here and around the world. The real question is why an administration that says it aims to depoliticize U.S. intelligence estimates would have chosen such a man to oversee them.
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10:10 AM (8 hours ago)
Lane on Freeman: A Conventional Thinker

from Jeffrey Goldberg
Sez Chuck:
Freeman's strong suit is supposed to be original, contrarian thinking on foreign affairs. Actually, it's more like a competing brand of conventional wisdom. On China, Freeman goes a bit further than others in his disdain for American human rights pressure on Beijing and in his indifference toward the regime's opponents. But, overall, his sympathetic view of that country's leadership is hardly unorthodox, much less brave. Right or wrong, Freeman's thinking is widely shared among influential U.S. businessmen, diplomats, scholars and think tanks. A more paranoid person than I might even refer to these folks as the "China Lobby." Stripped of its more controversial rhetoric, though, Freeman's "analysis" of China is a rehash of a very familiar apologia.
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10:10 AM (8 hours ago)
At Least One Newspaper Is Still Hiring

from Jeffrey Goldberg
It's The New York Times, and unfortunately it has hired my friend and colleague Ross Douthat as a columnist. Unfortunate for me, and unfortunate for The Atlantic. But we'll soldier on.Mazel Tov, as they say in New York.
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Mar 11, 2009 (yesterday)
Five Observations on the Freeman Withdrawal

from Jeffrey Goldberg
I'm just back from the M.E., and learned belatedly that Charles Freeman has withdrawn from the position of chairman of the National Intelligence Council. Five quick observations:1. His withdrawal letter, first reported by Laura Rozen, states: "The tactics of the Israel Lobby plumb the depths of dishonor and indecency and include character assassination, selective misquotation, the willful distortion of the record, the fabrication of falsehoods, and an utter disregard for the truth."I believe -- because David Rothkopf tells me to believe -- that Charles Freeman possesses many fine qualities, though I'd have to say that self-awareness isn't one of them. The majority of Freeman's critics (me included) reported on statements he has made in various speeches, and provided links to the full texts. Freeman and some of his supporters, on the other hand, have accused his critics of being treasonous dual-loyalists. Their argument seems to be: Opposition to Charles Freeman equals opposition to the best interests of the United States of America. I know some people find it hard to believe, but many Americans, Jewish and otherwise, believe that support for Israel is in America's best interest. Some are like me, and believe that some tough love on the question of settlements would also be in order.2. What was bothersome about Freeman was not his criticism of various Israeli policies. What bothered me most was his accusation that 9/11 was brought about mainly by American support for Israel, an accusation that seemed designed to deflect attention from Saudi Arabia, whose king is a patron of Freeman's think tank (Freeman once said, "I believe King Abdullah is very rapidly becoming Abdullah the Great.") I would love to see Freeman publicly debate Martin Kramer on this point. I'm sure Andrew and I could convince The Atlantic to sponsor. 3. It is widely believed on the blogosphere that the campaign against Freeman was coordinated by AIPAC or by Steve Rosen, the former AIPAC official no charged with espionage. I've been away, so maybe I've missed a couple of Elders of Zion meetings, but no one coordinated this "campaign" with me. In fact, I haven't spoken to Steve Rosen since he screamed at me for writing this profile of him in 2005. 4. One of the more interesting pieces on the controversy comes from Michael Weiss, who noted that many liberals who would ordinarily stand in opposition to the cynical "realism" of Charles Freeman were nevertheless lining up with him:
Leftists who praise Freeman on the single issue of Israel-Palestine, ostensibly out of a concern for justice and human rights, say it's beside the point to confront his endless euphemisms and evasions on other human rights abuses. An unintended consequence of this maneuver is that these same leftists appear even more obsessed with the Jewish state than do the "neocons" they purport to monitor. They also look especially stupid in this instance because they're effectively arguing that what goes on in the West Bank is more crucial to U.S. national security than what goes on in the one country which produced fifteen out of the nineteen 9/11 hijackers. How's that for realism?5. Charles Freeman is a lively writer. I think Foreign Policy should give him Stephen Walt's spot. Walt is, among other things, Foreign Policy's dreariest writer. This would also make David Rothkopf happy.
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Mar 11, 2009 (yesterday)
Cohen on Hamas and Hezbollah

from Jeffrey Goldberg
The ineffable Roger Cohen:
The 1988 Hamas Charter is vile, but I think it's wrong to get hung up on the prior recognition of Israel issue. Perhaps Hamas is sincere in its calls for Israel's disappearance -- although it has offered a decades-long truce -- but then it's also possible that Israel in reality has no desire to see a Palestinian state.
Perhaps Cohen would be served by reading their charter a little more closely. He also insists the U.S. "should initiate diplomatic contacts with the political wing of Hezbollah."
Abu Muqawama disagrees:
First off, who is this "political wing?" Does he mean Hizballah parliamentarians? If that's who he is talking about, then fine, I understand. The seven-man Shura Council, though, has operational control over both what Ahmad Nizar Hamzeh calls the "Political and Administrative Apparatus" as well as the "Military and Security Apparatus." So while there is a clear division of labor between Hizballah's activities in the government and its military activities, the command is more or less unified. (I have no idea how Hamas is set up, so someone feel free to jump in here.)Second, why on Earth would Hizballah want to talk to us? What would they want from us?Third, it would be one thing if the only thing Hizballah has ever said about armed resistance was said in the Open Letter of 1985, but Hizballah leaders have repeatedly and consistently defined the organization as an armed resistance movement first and foremost. What's more, this armed resistance is no longer tied into concrete territorial demands that we could conceivably help out with, such as the Shebaa Farms. So that complicates things, both for us in dealing with them and also for them as they try to figure out what the future of their party holds.
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Mar 9, 2009 (3 days ago)
Andrew, Freeman, Me, Treason, and Dual Loyalty

from Jeffrey Goldberg
Andrew asks: "Is Jeffrey accusing Freeman of dual loyalty and treason now? If so, a little clarification is in order. Over to you, Goldblog."Oy, with the drama. No Goldblog isn't accusing Freeman of "dual loyalty." I leave accusations of "dual loyalty" to others (and you know who you are!) What I'm suggesting is that Freeman suffers from clientitis, which is a disease sometimes seen in former American ambassadors to Saudi Arabia (among other places). "Clientits" is a common Washington ailment, and it manifests itself in different ways. In the case of diplomats, it causes them to over-identify with the viewpoints of the countries in which they serve. Many people in Washington suffer from variants of clientitis: How many lobbyists, and earmarking congressmen, conflate the needs of a particular industry with the best interests of the U.S.? Answer: A lot. Does this make them treasonous? Of course not.Do I think there are some people who believe that American self-interest and Israeli self-interest are the same? Yes. Do I believe there are some people who believe that American self-interest and Saudi self-interest are the same? Yes. Are these people treasonous? No, of course not, and not only because Israel and Saudi Arabia aren't at war with the U.S. In any case, Andrew has posted a long and thoughtful response to my last post, but I'm traveling now (in the Middle East!) and I'm not having great luck with the Internets at the moment, so a fuller response might have to wait until I get back.
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Mar 9, 2009 (3 days ago)
Human Rights Watch Hijacked by Neocons

from Jeffrey Goldberg
Matt Welch points out that Human Rights Watch must have been seized by the neocon cabal. What else could explain its opposition to Charles Freeman?
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Mar 9, 2009 (3 days ago)
Rosner on Salam Fayyad's Departure

from Jeffrey Goldberg
Fayyad's departure is not good for peace. And it limits Obama's options. Rosner explains:
[W]hile the Palestinian partner is becoming less promising and more complicated to deal with, it seems that the administration is pulling out of the bag the only available trick: pressuring Israel on the settlement issue....This pressure from the Obama team was to be expected but, with the resignation of Fayad, its futility will be even more evident than usual. Those who expect the freezing of settlement activities to make peace more probable should prepare for disappointment. Since peace is not in the cards as a short-term cause, Obama may want settlement activities halted in hopes of not derailing future agreements. That would be long-term future -- when a new Fayad is found.
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Mar 8, 2009 (4 days ago)
Andrew, Chas, and Me

from Jeffrey Goldberg
Andrew says of Charles Freeman's famous speech on the Middle East: "I do not see evidence of 'hostility to Israel' in it. I see criticism of Israel -- plenty of it. But hostility?"When Israel does something wrong, pointing out the sin is criticism; here are two examples, from Andrew, and me. When Israel is accused of something it did not do, then it's hostility. Such is the case with Freeman's accusation that Israel brought about the attacks of 9/11. It didn't.
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Mar 7, 2009 (5 days ago)
Freeman on Israel and 9/11

from Jeffrey Goldberg
Andrew says that I base my concerns about Charles Freeman on this speech, but doesn't provide the portions of the speech that seem most problematic to me. Here is one of those passages from this 2006 speech:
We have paid heavily and often in treasure in the past for our unflinching support and unstinting subsidies of Israel's approach to managing its relations with the Arabs. Five years ago we began to pay with the blood of our citizens here at home.Freeman blames Israel, and American support for Israel, for provoking 9/11. This is a very serious charge, and it is an untrue charge. Most al-Qaeda experts seem to agree that the stationing of American troops in Saudi Arabia was the main motivating grievance, though there were many putative causes. "You could take Israel out of the equation and Al Qaeda would still want to attack us," Lawrence Wright, the author of The Looming Tower, once told me. "Israel is a tremendously powerful recruiting tool, but there are people who are drawn to Al Qaeda for many different motivations. For Zawahiri, the main goal was Egypt. For bin Laden, the main goal was to expel American troops from Saudi Arabia." Richard Clarke told me, "If you look at Al Qaeda's own writing and their public statements, Israel was not a major theme. What they say is pretty clear. They want to eliminate the presence of the 'far enemy'--us--from the Islamic world, because the far enemy props up the 'near enemy,' the moderate Arab states. If they increase the pain on us, they believe that they can topple the Arab regimes. If Israel didn't exist, they'd be doing the same thing."And one other Middle East expert -- Charles Freeman -- said in 1998: "Mr. bin Laden's principal point, in pursuing this campaign of violence against the United States, has nothing to do with Israel. It has to do with the American military presence in Saudi Arabia, in connection with the Iran-Iraq issue. No doubt the question of American relations with Israel adds to the emotional heat of his opposition and adds to his appeal in the region. But this is not his main point."So the question is, what caused Charles Freeman to change his opinion about the causes of al-Qaeda radicalism? Could it be his close ties to Saudi Arabia? This was my original concern about Freeman, that he was too tied to a country that is an obvious target for the collectors and analysts of American intelligence.
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Mar 7, 2009 (5 days ago)
Freeman's Son Threatens to Punch Critics in Their Faces

from Jeffrey Goldberg
I'm not sure that this is the most helpful response ever:
My Dad is a royal pain in the butt, but I love him. Why this pack of arfing lapdogs have chosen him as a target is clear: he's been a longtime thorn in the butt of the Israel first-ers. Never mind that he'd be a killer NIC chair for genuine American interests.My Dad and I are going to continue to argue.We'll do it, respectfully though.Wish that could be said about his detractors. They are low-lives. And if you're among them and by chance read this: I still want to punch you in the face. You'd deserve it, you schmucks.
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Mar 7, 2009 (5 days ago)
Fallows on Freeman: An Antidote to Groupthink?

from Jeffrey Goldberg
Fallows writes in support of Charles Freeman:
A president's Secretary of State had to represent the country's policies soberly and predictably around the world. His National Security Advisor had to coordinate and evenhandedly present the views of the various agencies. His White House press secretary had to take great care in expressing the official line to the world's media each day. His Director of National Intelligence had to give him the most sober and responsible precis of what was known and unknown about potential threats. For any of those roles, a man like Freeman might not be the prudent choice. But as head of the National Intelligence Council, my friend said, he would be exactly right. While he would have no line-operational responsibilities or powers, he would be able to raise provocative questions, to ask "What if everybody's wrong?", to force attention to the doubts, possibilities, and alternatives that normally get sanded out of the deliberative process through the magic known as "groupthink."I absolutely see Jim's point: Freeman is not making policy, nor representing the President's views in foreign capitals. But on the other hand, I ask myself each time I read something outlandish or offensive Freeman has said, at what point does contrariness bleed into wing-nuttery? Put another way, what would Freeman's defenders say if the President were appointing another generally well-regarded foreign policy mandarin for this position who had only one flaw: A deeply emotional and irrational attachment to, say, the Jewish settlers, or to Serbian nationalism, or to some other unhelpful cause? I don't lump Jim in this category, because I think he's a fair person (and we agree on so much else), but I get the sense that some of Freeman's defenders want to see him in government not because he's a professional contrarian but precisely because he's viscerally anti-Israel.
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Mar 6, 2009 (6 days ago)
Hezbollah's Insane Roger Cohen Graphic

from Jeffrey Goldberg
Roger Cohen's second column on Iran's Jews has been reprinted on Hezbollah's Al Manar website. (Mazal Tov). And it's accompanied by what might be the craziest graphic ever:Yes, that's Roger Cohen on the left, next to a photoshopped image of the entrance to Auschwitz framing an "Iran Loves Jews" poster, next to photos of Ayatollah Khatami and Mahmoud Ahmadinejad meeting men I believe to be members of the ridiculous Neturei Karta anti-Zionist cult. Al-Manar has long been providing interesting satellite and web-based content. I visited Al Manar in 2002, and wrote about it in The New Yorker:
Al Manar regularly airs raw footage of violence in the occupied territories, and it will break into its programming with what one Al Manar official called "patriotic music videos" to announce Palestinian attacks and applaud the killing of Israelis. When I visited the station, the videos were being produced in a basement editing room by a young man named Firas Mansour. Al Manar has modern equipment, and the day I was there Mansour, who was in charge of mixing the videos, was working on a Windows-based editing suite. Mansour is in his late twenties, and he was dressed in hip-hop style. His hair was gelled, and he wore a gold chain, a heavy silver bracelet, and a goatee. He spoke colloquial American English. I asked him where he learned it. "Boston," he said. Mansour showed me some recent footage from the West Bank, of Israeli soldiers firing on Palestinians. Accompanying the video was a Hezbollah fighting song. "What I'm doing is synchronizing the gunshots to form the downbeat of the song," he told me. "This is my technique. I thought of it." He had come up with a title: "I'm going to call it 'Death to Israel.' " Mansour said that he can produce two or three videos on a good day. "What I do is, first, I try to feel the music. Then I find the pictures to go along with it." He pulled up another video, this one almost ready to air. "Try and see if you could figure out the theme of this one," he said. The video began with Israeli soldiers firing on Palestinians. Then the screen filled with pictures of Palestinians carrying the wounded to ambulances, followed by an angry funeral scene. Suddenly, the scene shifted to Israelis under fire. An Israeli soldier was on the ground, rocking back and forth, next to a burning jeep; this was followed by scenes of Jewish funerals, with coffins draped in the Israeli flag being lowered into graves. Mansour pressed a button, and the images disappeared from the screen. "The idea is that even if the Jews are killing us we can still kill them. That we derive our power from blood. It's saying, 'Get ready to blow yourselves up, because this is the only way to liberate Palestine.' '' The video, he said, would be shown after the next attack in Israel. He said he was thinking of calling it "We Will Kill All the Jews." I suggested that these videos would encourage the recruitment of suicide bombers among the Palestinians. "Exactly," he replied.
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Mar 6, 2009 (6 days ago)
Krauthammer: Israel to Attack Iran

from Jeffrey Goldberg
From NRO, via Andrew:
The only thing that would stop the Iranians, conceivably, would be a complete embargo, including refined petroleum, meaning gasoline, which would shut down its economy.A, that may not even deter them, and, secondly, the Russians and others, and even the Europeans are not going to go alone, which means that in the end, it will be Israel acting here--6 million Jews in Israel are not going to allow a country that is threatening genocide to acquire a genocidal weapon.We have to prepare ourselves for an Israeli attack by the end of this year....
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Mar 6, 2009 (6 days ago)
Hamas: No Solution Is the Best Solution

from Jeffrey Goldberg
Michael Young on why Western and Arab engagement with Hamas is counterproductive:
Sometimes, no solution is better than a bad one. Hamas is undeniably a difficult interlocutor to avoid on Palestinian issues. The movement has effective veto power over most major Palestinian decisions. However, negotiating with Hamas would only better allow it to change the subject away from what it wants most to avoid: a settlement with Israel along the post-Oslo lines defined during the 1990s. If deadlock is assured on the Palestinian track in the coming year, then it's best to avoid talking to Hamas, allowing the Palestinians themselves, perhaps in the next elections, to cut the movement down to size first. And if they don't do so, then they should prepare to see their national aspirations postponed indefinitely.
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Mar 5, 2009 3:05 PM
Italy Pulls Out of Durban II

from Jeffrey Goldberg
From Ha'aretz:
Frattini's comments on Durban II, made on the sidelines of a NATO summit in Brussels, were reported by Italian news agencies. Ministry Spokesman Maurizio Massari confirmed Frattini's statements and said Rome would not participate in the conference unless the document was changed.
"There are expressions of anti-Semitism," Massari said by telephone. "Until the document is modified we will not have a part in it." The United States has imposed similar conditions. Israel and Canada have already announced a boycott.
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Mar 5, 2009 3:05 PM
I Prefer Muslim Salt, Personally

from Jeffrey Goldberg
Chris Bodenner points me to a guy who doesn't exactly get it:
Retired barber Joe Godlewski says that when television chefs recommended kosher salt in recipes, he wondered, "What the heck's the matter with Christian salt?"
By next week, his trademarked Blessed Christians Salt will be available from seasonings manufacturer Ingredients Corporation of America. It's sea salt that's been blessed by an Episcopal priest.
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Mar 5, 2009 1:10 PM
Lede of the Year Contest

from Jeffrey Goldberg
I just spoke to Jack Shafer, who is nominating this Nick Kristof graf as lede of the year:
When the International Criminal Court issued its arrest warrant for Sudan's president on Wednesday, an 8-year-old boy named Bakit Musa would have clapped -- if only he still had hands.
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Mar 5, 2009 8:23 AM
Good for Roger Cohen

from Jeffrey Goldberg
Two days ago, I posted on this blog an invitation from Rabbi David Wolpe, of Sinai Temple in Los Angeles, to Roger Cohen of the New York Times, to come visit the temple and talk to its congregants, half of whom are Iranian-American. Many of these congregants have stories about life as Jews in Iran that conflict with the quasi-benevolent picture Cohen has drawn in recent days. Yesterday, Rabbi Wolpe told me that Cohen has accepted the invitation, and will visit the temple on March 12th, to meet with his congregants, listen to their stories, and take their questions. I'm looking forward to his column about the experience.
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Mar 5, 2009 5:32 AM
Livni's Maneuver

from Jeffrey Goldberg
Smart commentary from Yossi Klein Halevi:
Livni claims she has rejected Netanyahu's overtures because he won't commit to a two-state solution. But she knows that that disagreement is theoretical, because there is no chance anytime soon of creating a viable Palestinian state: As long as Hamas dominates Palestinian politics, it will impose a veto on any agreement. Nor has Livni managed to negotiate an agreement with Fatah. Livni, after all, served as foreign minister in the outgoing Kadima-Labor government of Ehud Olmert, which had three years to deliver peace with the Palestinians. In fact, Olmert tried to deliver two peace agreements--with the Syrians as well as the Palestinians. Instead, he became the first prime minister to fight two wars in one term--and not because he didn't try to bring peace.
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Mar 5, 2009 3:19 AM
How Big is Wal-Mart?

from Jeffrey Goldberg
Forty-five million dollars in sales every hour. Counting the cash from places like this. This recession is great news for Bentonville.
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Mar 4, 2009 8:17 PM
The Lingerie-Seller of Damascus

from Jeffrey Goldberg
The AFP reports this developing undergarment story:
"Islam orders the woman to keep herself pretty for her husband, that's well-known," Mohammad Habash, head of the Damascus Center for Islamic Studies, said.He said there is nothing at all contradictory in a veiled Muslim woman buying sexy underwear. "A woman can buy whatever she desires, even a dancer's outfit for when she wants to give pleasure to her husband," Habash added. "This is not only her right, it's an obligation."
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Mar 4, 2009 7:50 AM
The Israel Policy Forum's Professional Slander Expert

from Jeffrey Goldberg
M.J. Rosenberg of the Israel Policy Forum, a group usually worthy of respect (and one that just asked me to plug its new and improved website), writes, in reference to Jon Chait's elegant takedown of Stephen Walt:
Chait calls Walt out for failing to note that many of the "usual suspects" Walt cites didn't only write about Freeman's views of Israel. Some wrote about his views of...China. Chait has to be joking. None of the bloggers in question had any interest in Freeman's views on China until Steve Rosen (and some of his colleagues) decided to stir up the opposition to Freeman because of his alleged lack of fidelity to the occupation. In fact, I hear that the offending China quotes were only discovered in the context of a Google Nexis/Lexis search to find incriminating material to block Freeman's appointment because of his Middle East views. China was not even an afterthought.That should be obvious unless one believes that Rosen, Goldfarb, Goldberg, Peretz, Goldberg again and Scheonfeld suddenly developed a deep and simultaneous concern about human rights in China. The only issue that gang has in common is defending the occupation and opposing the peace process.Yes, I'm well-known for opposing the peace process. This is what M.J. Rosenberg wrote about my views before the evacuation of settlements from Gaza:
Sharon is taking on the most dangerous segment of the Israeli population. In the May 31 issue of The New Yorker, Jeffrey Goldberg -- an American Jewish reporter who served in the Israeli army -- describes the extreme settlement movement as a threat to the very existence of the Jewish state. Goldberg, a regular in the New York Times Magazine and elsewhere, has often been criticized for his supposed pro-Israel bias, and that makes his take on the settlers particularly significant.Which one is it, M.J.? Am I for the settlements or am I against the settlements? Have I switched my views on settlements and on the occupation? If I have, please let me know. I'm not aware of such a shift. M.J., you should at least read what you yourself have written about other people before manufacturing charges against them.What Rosenberg can't seem to comprehend is that a person can be opposed to the occupation, and be opposed to the viciously anti-Israel "realism" of the Walts and Mearsheimers at the same time. I admire the work of the Israel Policy Forum very much, and so I'm continually surprised that its director of policy analysis has placed himself in the camp of Walt and Mearsheimer and Charles Freeman.
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Mar 3, 2009 10:40 PM
I'm Not So Sure This is Good for the Jews

from Jeffrey Goldberg
Lindsay Lohan is joining the tribe, apparently. She can sit with Madonna at Kol Nidre.
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Mar 3, 2009 10:18 AM
An Invitation for Roger Cohen

from Jeffrey Goldberg
David Wolpe, the rabbi of Sinai Temple in Los Angeles, wrote the other day to suggest that if Roger Cohen really wants to understand the Iranian-Jewish experience, he should come and talk to some of Sinai Temple's congegants. Half the synagogue's members are Iranian-American, and many of them are refugees from the 1979 Iranian revolution (There were 100,000 Jews in Iran before the revolution; 25,000 now). Rabbi Wolpe said he would be happy to host Cohen at the synagogue, and that his members would be eager to talk to him about their experiences in Iran. So, Roger, over to you. You can contact Rabbi Wolpe through the Sinai Temple website, or through me. I've been to Sinai Temple before; it's filled with very nice and sincere people. I hope you take Rabbi Wolpe up on the offer.
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Mar 3, 2009 7:20 AM
Thanks Very Much, Jared Polis

from Jeffrey Goldberg
I never heard of him before this story appeared on Romenesko, but apparently Polis is a freshman congressman from Colorado who thinks that the death of The Rocky Mountain News is a good thing:
"I have to say, that when we say, 'Who killed The Rocky Mountain News,' we're all part of it, for better or worse, and I argue it's mostly for the better," Polis said at the Netroots Nation in Your Neighborhood event in Westminster, according to a recording posted online. The group supports progressive politics. "The media is dead, and long live the new media, which is all of us," said Polis, a Boulder Democrat.Uchh. I don't know too many Democrats who think that the death of a newspaper is a positive development for society. And by the way, "All of us" are the new media? I'd like to read the investigations of government corruption produced by "all of us." I imagine there are many journalists -- and advocates of government accountability -- wishing for the death of Polis's congressional career right about now.
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Mar 3, 2009 7:20 AM
Schneier on Perverse Security Incentives

from Jeffrey Goldberg
Interesting article from Wired. It's all about cash and CYA, apparently:
Incentives explain much that is perplexing about security trade-offs. Why does King County, Washington, require one form of ID to get a concealed-carry permit, but two forms of ID to pay for the permit by check? Making a mistake on a gun permit is an abstract problem, but a bad check actually costs some department money. In the decades before 9/11, why did the airlines fight every security measure except the photo-ID check? Increased security annoys their customers, but the photo-ID check solved a security problem of a different kind: the resale of nonrefundable tickets. So the airlines were on board for that one.
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Mar 2, 2009 9:40 AM
Charles Freeman: Tiananmen Massacre Was Justified

from Jeffrey Goldberg
Jon Chait did a fine job dismantling the realist-run-amok Charles Freeman in the Washington Post yesterday, and highlights his most egregious belief, that the Communist regime in Beijing was within its rights to order the wholesale slaughter of students in Tiananmen Square. These are Freeman's words:
"[T]he truly unforgivable mistake of the Chinese authorities was the failure to intervene on a timely basis to nip the demonstrations in the bud, rather than -- as would have been both wise and efficacious -- to intervene with force when all other measures had failed to restore domestic tranquility to Beijing and other major urban centers in China. In this optic, the Politburo's response to the mob scene at 'Tian'anmen' stands as a monument to overly cautious behavior on the part of the leadership, not as an example of rash action. . . ."I do not believe it is acceptable for any country to allow the heart of its national capital to be occupied by dissidents intent on disrupting the normal functions of government, however appealing to foreigners their propaganda may be. Such folk, whether they represent a veterans' 'Bonus Army' or a 'student uprising' on behalf of 'the goddess of democracy' should expect to be displaced with despatch [sic] from the ground they occupy."
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Mar 2, 2009 9:40 AM
Not All Reporters in Iran Get the Roger Cohen Treatment

from Jeffrey Goldberg
From today's Times:
TEHRAN -- Iran has arrested an Iranian-American reporter who worked for National Public Radio and other news organizations out of Iran, her father told N.P.R. on Sunday.
The father, Reza Saberi, said that his daughter, Roxana Saberi, 31, who has worked as a freelancer in Iran for six years, was arrested Jan. 31 by the authorities after buying a bottle of wine. He said she called Feb. 10 and told him that she was in custody but that she could be released soon.
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Mar 2, 2009 6:31 AM
Roger Cohen's Credulity, Cont'd

from Jeffrey Goldberg
In his column today, an obviously defensive Roger Cohen caricatures my criticism of his previous column, the one in which he argued that Iran's remaining Jews are doing just fine, thank you very much, and the way you can tell this is that non-Jewish Iranians are generally pleasant to Jews they meet on the street, particularly those who denounce Israel as "criminal." This is what he wrote:
Perhaps I have a bias toward facts over words, but I say the reality of Iranian civility toward Jews tells us more about Iran -- its sophistication and culture -- than all the inflammatory rhetoric. That may be because I'm a Jew and have seldom been treated with such consistent warmth as in Iran.In my post on that column, I wrote that:
Warmth, civility, hospitality and friendliness are the hallmarks of most Muslim societies I've visited. I have been in many places -- in Pakistan, Afghanistan, Gaza, Iraq and Iran -- where people absolutely hate Israel, absolutely hate "International Jewry," and hate the Talmud, or what they think is in the Talmud. But people in these places have been almost uniformly kind to me as a visiting Jewish reporter (and they almost always know, right from the outset, that I'm Jewish, because it's not something I ever hide).Cohen obviously refuses to grapple with my point: That the personal doesn't necessarily correspond to the political. The Iranian government supports terrorists who kill Jews, in Israel and in other countries as well (the Argentina massacre, for instance). The Iranian people are very kind and hospitable to Jews on a personal level. These two things are true. Cohen seems to think that the latter observation negates the first observation.Cohen states self-righteously that he has a bias for facts over words. Here are some facts.
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Mar 2, 2009 6:31 AM
Israel, Crying Wolf

from Jeffrey Goldberg
From Zvi Barel, in Ha'aretz:
Israel cannot keep up for much longer the role of managing the global coalition against Iran. Its term is running out, not least because, in the wake of the Gaza war, it has lost its status as a country under threat. It may seem that the two fronts are unconnected, but it's hard not to notice how less qualified Israel is to cry wolf as it prevents pasta trucks from entering the Gaza Strip. Unfortunately, this erosion is spreading. You can't be perceived as a bully on one front and a righteous nation on the other. It's not that the Iranian threat has weakened, it's that the shine of its potential victim has dimmed.
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Mar 2, 2009 6:31 AM
Quote of the Day

from Jeffrey Goldberg
"I hope a lot of people do go to the cemetery -- which, by the way, is conveniently located at 155th and Broadway on the subway." -- Mayor Koch, on planning his own funeral
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Feb 27, 2009 12:39 PM
Judea Pearl on Durban II and Jimmy Carter

from Jeffrey Goldberg
Judea Pearl, Daniel Pearl's father, should, by rights, be a featured speaker this April in Geneva, at the United Nations' follow-up meeting to the famous World Conference Against Racism, Racial Intolerance, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance - who can't love that name? - that was held in Durban in September of 2001. After all, Pearl's family was directly victimized by prejudice - Danny Pearl was murdered because he was a Jew. Judea told me he would be happy to speak at the conference, though he believes that it will once again focus almost exclusively on the sins of one country, and one country alone. How could Israel not become the target of the conference, when Iran and Libya are key planners of the meeting? The Obama Administration, which is boycotting the conference (Ben Smith has the scoop), along with Canada and Israel and perhaps some Western European countries, should suggest to the United Nations that Judea address the General Assembly on the subject of hate. What better way to highlight the issue of racism than by listening to its victims? I spoke to Judea about Durban and about his recent op-ed in the Wall Street Journal, which criticized, among others, Jimmy Carter, for accepting as legitimate the demands of terrorists. Here is an edited version of our conversation.Jeffrey Goldberg: What is your specific problem with Jimmy Carter?Judea Pearl: Jimmy Carter believes that terrorism will stop when the Palestinians get what they say they want. I believe that terrorism should be taboo regardless of the grievance, and he doesn't see it like that. He sees it as a legitimate way of pressuring someone. But everybody has a grievance. There are just some things that you don't do. There is good and there is evil. The men who killed my son had a grievance, everybody has a grievance. Once you focus on the grievance, rather than the terrorist act itself, the terrorist has won.JG: The Durban II draft calls for official international protections for religion against criticism. You've suggested that this is motivated by some Muslim nations that want to shift the focus away from Islamist terrorism. JD: What gets me is the idea that speaking against terrorism gets you labeled Islamophobic. JG: How do you think the U.S. should try to influence the outcome of the Durban II conference?JD: They should try to discredit it because of its essential ridiculousness. It's a focused hatefest. It's a hatefest against one entity, the Jewish national movement. Iran and Libya are organizers, after all. I think the whole negotiating text is meant to exclude the kind of hatred that took Danny's life. The hatred was directed at the U.S., Israel, and the Jewish people. Durban protects this kind of hatred. Durban wants to criminalize any criticism of groups that say they are acting on behalf of Islam. Religions do not have a monopoly on human sensitivity. There are other symbols, other aspects of people's lives that deserve respect, such as the belief in Jewish national quality, the belief that Jews are entitled to sovereignty in the country where they were born. There should be sensitivity to the issue of burning the Israeli flag, which contains a national and religious symbol. I feel pained when people burn the Israeli flag, the same way a Muslim feels abused when the Koran is mistreated. JG: Do you think we've reached some sort of point of no return in the questioning of Israel's legitimacy?JD: There is latent anti-Semitic pressure in the world and Gaza took the lid off. That's one way to look at it. Group hysteria is catching. Gaza gives people the chance to feel morally superior. I mean, look at the Libyan government. Are they saying they're morally superior to Israel? For the Libyan people it's very important that there's one speck, one human area, where you're worth something - you're morally superior to the Jews. It's a confirmation of worthiness. The average Libyan is not having a very good time most days. So it's good to have a scapegoat. This is what Durban is about.
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Feb 27, 2009 9:27 AM
Freeman's Blind Spot on the Saudi Question

from Jeffrey Goldberg
A few years ago, Chas Freeman, the apparent Obama pick to run the National Intelligence Council, visited the Washington Institute for Near East Policy and had this interesting exchange with its director, Robert Satloff (we're coming in in the middle of the exchange; for the full dialogue, see here):
Freeman: And what of America's lack of introspection about September 11? Instead of asking what might have caused the attack, or questioning the propriety of the national response to it, there is an ugly mood of chauvinism. Before Americans call on others to examine themselves, we should examine ourselves.Satloff: I find it difficult to accept that the people who were on the receiving end of the September 11 attacks should begin by focusing on what they did to deserve it.Freeman: My point is that cause and effect work both ways. They exist in both directions, whatever the moral consequences might be.In this dialogue, Freeman also stated that "I accept that al-Qaeda and Osama bin Laden almost certainly perpetrated the September 11 attacks," but never mind this off-putting hesitancy; what's particularly interesting is his desire to see an exploration of 9/11 cause and effect. Let's posit as true that al Qaeda acted against America out of specific grievances (I think it's also true that al Qaeda acted out of Muslim supremacist ideology, but let's put that aside as well). What was the principal political grievance of al Qaeda before 9/11? The stationing of U.S. troops in Saudi Arabia at the request of the Saudi government, in order to protect the kingdom from Saddam Hussein. Most experts agree that this was the triggering event. There were many others, of course -- Bin Laden's generalized grievances against the Saudi royal family, and at number three or four, the Israel-Palestine crisis. But it was the joint American-Saudi decision to place American troops on holy Muslim soil that sent bin Laden around the bend. Freeman, a former ambassador to Saudi Arabia, and a recipient, as head of the Middle East Policy Council, of funds from the Saudi royal family, should know that Saudi Arabia, the native land of most of the 9/11 hijackers, also provided the raison d'etre for al Qaeda, and our entangling alliance with Saudi Arabia made us a target of al Qaeda rage. Perhaps in his new job as the government's analyst-in-chief, he'll say that.
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Feb 26, 2009 6:54 PM
Jewish Leaders Overreact to Hillary's Demands

from Jeffrey Goldberg
According to this report, Jewish leaders (which seems to mean mainly Mort Zuckerman) are upset with Hillary Clinton for demanding that Israel speed up the flow of aid to Gaza. Do I have to point out that this doesn't make her George Galloway? I understand Israel's hesitations here -- it has a kidnapped soldier, Gilad Shalit, in Gaza -- but a comprehensive easing of tensions might make Shalit's release more, and not less, likely. (This doesn't mean anything more than technical negotiations with Hamas, by the way). And I have not a single doubt that Hillary Clinton is working assiduously to free Shalit, and working assiduously to marginalize Hamas in other ways, in order to buttress the moderate government of Abu Mazen and Salam Fayyad on the West Bank. So, chill until further notice, please.
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Feb 26, 2009 2:05 PM
Holocaust-Denying Bishop: "Sorry. To The Church, I Mean."

from Jeffrey Goldberg
Richard Williamson has apparently apologized, but it's still not clear if he believes that the Holocaust actually happened:
In a statement published by the Zenit news agency on Thursday, Bishop Williamson said: "I can truthfully say that I regret having made such remarks, and that if I had known beforehand the full harm and hurt to which they would give rise, especially to the Church, but also to survivors and relatives of victims of injustice under the Third Reich, I would not have made them."
He added: "To all souls that took honest scandal from what I said, before God I apologize."
His statement did not address the content of his remarks, in which he had said that no more than 300,000 people died in the Holocaust and none in gas chambers. In recent weeks, he has said in interviews that he needs more time to study documentation about the Holocaust.
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Feb 26, 2009 10:36 AM
What It's Really Like at The Atlantic

from Jeffrey Goldberg
People often ask me, "Jeff, what is it like being at a magazine that has so many geniuses working in the same place at the same time? Is it unbelievably awesome?"It's like this:Popout
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Feb 26, 2009 6:34 AM
On the Analytical Abilities of Chas Freeman

from Jeffrey Goldberg
When the great David Rothkopf comes to Chas Freeman's defense, I pay attention. Writing on his Foreign Policy blog, Rothkopf argues that Freeman, whose organization, the Middle East Policy Council, has taken Saudi money, and who has sometimes been rather aggressively critical of Israel, is precisely the sort of person who should be analyzing intelligence for the President:
The head of the NIC is, in some respect, the analyst-in-chief of the U.S. government. He or she must have a great mind, must reject cant, must have a nose for political agendas (and the willingness to filter them out... including first and foremost his own biases), and must be genuinely intellectually daring, willing to explore unpopular or unlikely ideas to consider their implications... Few people would be better for these tasks than Chas Freeman. Part of the reason he is so controversial is that he has zero fear of speaking what he perceives to be truth to power. You can't cow him and you can't find someone with a more relentlessly questioning worldview.I take David's views very seriously, but in rereading one of Freeman's more vituperatively anti-Israel speeches last night, I became stuck on this line: "Demonstrably, Israel excels at war; sadly, it has shown no talent for peace." Is this an example of Freeman's analytical abilities, or his polemical gifts? Let me grant that he might have been doing a bit of sucking up to his audience when he made this assertion, but even so, where's the analysis? I argue constantly that Israel shares the Palestinian talent for never missing an opportunity to miss an opportunity, but really, has Israel never shown any talent for peace? Even Benny Morris and the new historians would argue that this is, at best, inconsistently the case. Israel, after all, ceded the entire Sinai peninsula to Egypt in exchange for peace; it made a durable peace with the Hashemites; it pulled out of Lebanon in 2000, only to be rewarded by Hezbollah rocket fire and ground attacks; it went to Camp David that same year and offered what President Clinton considered to be a credible set of concessions to the Palestinians, only to have Yasser Arafat reject them without making a counter-offer; and in 2005, one of Israel's great warriors, Ariel Sharon, unilaterally conceded the Gaza Strip to the Palestinian Authority. Did he do that in the interest of furthering war with the Palestinians?Quite often it's been the case that both sides in the conflict have shown no talent for making peace; an "analyst-in-chief" would acknowledge that complex truth. Chas Freeman doesn't.
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Feb 26, 2009 6:34 AM
The War on Terror, Cont'd

from Jeffrey Goldberg
Leon Panetta clears things up:
The phrase "war on terror," a hallmark of President George W. Bush's White House, is rarely used in the Obama administration, but Panetta that "there's no question this is a war."
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Feb 26, 2009 6:34 AM
Roger Cohen's Very Happy Visit with Iran's Jews

from Jeffrey Goldberg
Others have picked over Roger Cohen's recent column on Iran's Jews, so I won't try to make the obvious points. But one line struck me as particularly credulous:
Perhaps I have a bias toward facts over words, but I say the reality of Iranian civility toward Jews tells us more about Iran -- its sophistication and culture -- than all the inflammatory rhetoric. That may be because I'm a Jew and have seldom been treated with such consistent warmth as in Iran.Warmth, civility, hospitality and friendliness are the hallmarks of most Muslim societies I've visited. I have been in many places -- in Pakistan, Afghanistan, Gaza, Iraq and Iran -- where people absolutely hate Israel, absolutely hate "International Jewry," and hate the Talmud, or what they think is in the Talmud. But people in these places have been almost uniformly kind to me as a visiting Jewish reporter (and they almost always know, right from the outset, that I'm Jewish, because it's not something I ever hide). The people with whom I visit -- and I count the leaders of Hamas and Hezbollah in this group -- are raised by their families to be kind to guests. It's very lovely and civilized -- Israelis could learn a thing or two about politeness from Muslims -- but it's irrelevant to their politics, or to their beliefs about what should happen to the Jewish state and its supporters. I was once with a mullah in Pakistan who told me that Allah would soon fulfill his promise and destroy the Jews, but who invited me to stay in his guest room rather than make a dangerous night drive back to my hotel. I took him up on his offer, and slept soundly. It wouldn't be fair of me to call this sort of hospitality superficial, because it grows from a real spirit of personal generosity, but I've learned the hard way that the personal isn't always the political.
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Feb 25, 2009 6:07 PM
Where in the World Does Dennis Ross Work?

from Jeffrey Goldberg
Dennis Ross is the newly-appointed special adviser to the secretary of state for the Gulf and Southwest Asia. Which means he works in what countries? Who knows? Maybe the State Dept briefer can explain:
QUESTION: Can you give us - well, what is the State Department's definition geographically of Southwest Asia? What countries does that include?
MR. WOOD: Matt, I didn't --
QUESTION: No, you guys named an envoy for Southwest Asia. I presume that you know what countries that includes.MR. WOOD: Yes. Of course, we know. I just - I don't have the list to run off - you know, right off the top of my head here. But obviously, that's going to encompass - that region encompasses Iran. It will - you know, it'll deal with --
Because why would you bringing the list of countries included in Dennis Ross's new brief to the press conference about Dennis Ross's new brief?
QUESTION: Does it include Iraq?
MR. WOOD: Indeed, it does.... .
QUESTION: And so, does it include parts of the Middle East?
MR. WOOD: Yes.
QUESTION: It does? Does it include Syria, and it includes Israel and it includes Jordan?
MR. WOOD: Well, he'll be looking at the entire region that will include, you know -
QUESTION: Where does that stop? I mean, you know, you have NEA which, you know, runs all the way to Morocco. So does it include -
MR. WOOD: Well, he's going to be in touch with a number of officials who work on issues throughout this region.
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Feb 25, 2009 3:10 PM
On Reading the Hamas Charter Carefully

from Jeffrey Goldberg
Paul Berman on the complexities of managing Hamas:
There is an obligation to live, which means that Israel has not just the right but the obligation to defend herself. Judging the proportionality of the Israeli actions runs into a complication, though - something of a logical bind.It is now and then noted in the press that Hamas, in its charter, calls for the elimination of Israel - though, actually, the charter goes further yet, which is almost never noted. Article Seven of the charter, citing one of the sayings of the Prophet Muhammad, makes clear that Hamas acknowledges a religious duty to kill the Jews. It's all pretty explicit. Which Jews in particular must be killed, in order to bring about, as the charter puts it, the "Last Hour?" Article Seven merely stipulates "the Jews" - which leaves open the possibility, I would think, of killing all of the Jews, or at least (judging from other sections of the charter) the Jews who inhabit any place that is now or used to be Islamic. In any case, the Jews of Israel.
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Feb 25, 2009 9:06 AM
Diet Tips from Al Sharpton

from Jeffrey Goldberg
So I was on the shuttle from New York this morning when who shows up next to me but Reverend Al (it's been a good week for shuttle-spotting: Placido Domingo! Dan Bartlett! Mark Leibovich! A guy who looked almost exactly like Joe Torre!). Sharpton, who I think was coming down to D.C. to yell at President Obama about something, was looking as thin and dapper as the last time I saw him two years ago. "What's your diet secret?" I asked him. After all, stripping weight away is somewhat easy, compared to keeping it off. Sharpton put his arm around my shoulder and said, "I'll tell you the secret. You ready for the secret?" He lowered his voice. "Never, ever eat anything after 6 p.m. Never." It's at least as good as any other advice I've ever heard.
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Feb 24, 2009 11:07 AM
Branding Israel, One Supermodel at a Time

from Jeffrey Goldberg
Aluff Benn on an Israeli Foreign Ministry project (which included Israeli models posing in bikinis for Maxim magazine) to brand Israel as more Western, and less foreign:
Israelis tend to see their country as part of the West, and compare it to the United States and Britain. The problem is that the West is not too thrilled by the comparison and regards Israel as an oddity, a country using excessive force in permanent conflict with its neighbors. In Europe, and to a growing extent in the U.S., the use of military power is seen as primitive, something that belongs to the previous century, something that decent people don't do. When the Europeans apply force in Afghanistan or Kosovo, they are not proud of it like Israeli leaders who get excited about the bombing of Gaza. Israel's public-relations machine has tried for many years to market Israel as a villa in the jungle, a Western frontier outpost against extremist Islam. We are hit by rockets in Sderot and bomb Gaza in order to save Paris and London. Israeli leaders complain that the West is unconcerned by the danger posed by Islam, and instead of dealing with it they criticize Israel for defending itself. But the media and public opinion in the West ignore this message and insist that Israel is at least as violent as its enemies.
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Feb 24, 2009 11:07 AM
More on Chas Freeman

from Jeffrey Goldberg
From Ben Smith at Politico:
Freeman, a polyglot foreign policy veteran -- he was Richard Nixon's translator in China in 1972 -- is being backed by Director of National Intelligence Dennis Blair, with whom he's close, for the job; Blair, I'm told, extended the offer. He's seen as ideal for the post, which is structured to offer an outside, skeptical view on U.S. intelligence, for his broad knowledge and experience in Africa, Europe, and Latin America as well as the Middle East, and for inclinations that cut against those of many others on Obama's foreign policy team. In particular, he's been a critic of what he's described at Israel's lack of a talent for peace, and of the role of the "Israel Lobby" in the U.S.
Those stands have, not unpredictably, provoked a fierce behind-the-scenes lobbying campaign to torpedo the appointment -- which, as Anthony Zinni learned, can't be seen as final until it's public -- from the pro-Israel side.
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Feb 23, 2009 2:37 PM
Nasrallah in Pajamas

from Jeffrey Goldberg
This music video, which was popular in Israel during the 2006 Lebanon War, gives us the softer side of Nasrallah:
Popoutyallah ya nasrallah songThe approximate translation of the song is below.Popout
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Feb 23, 2009 1:43 PM
Totten on the Next Israel-Hezbollah War

from Jeffrey Goldberg
It's quiet now. But Michael, fresh off his punch-up with a bunch of Syrian Nazis, asks how long will it last?
The capital, Beirut, is in better shape than it has been in more than three decades. It's like an Arabic version of the French Riviera once again. That's one side of the country. There is another. More than once since the Syrian military was evicted in 2005, the Paris of the Middle East became the Baghdad of the Levant.
It is going to happen again. No Lebanese people I know think history has tired of molesting their country. Predicting the timing of Lebanon's chronic outbursts of violence is impossible, but it's not hard to see that another conflict is coming sooner or later.
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Feb 23, 2009 12:15 PM
On Islam and Beheading

from Jeffrey Goldberg
Slate has an interesting piece on beheadings, in light of that most unfortunate incident in Buffalo:
Muhammad's earliest biographer, Ibn-Ishaq, describes how the prophet approved the beheadings of between 600 and 900 men from the Jewish Quyraza tribe following the Battle of the Trench. Decapitation of a dead enemy on the battlefield was the "primary form of symbolic aggression among Ottoman soldiers," according to this history of the Ottoman Empire. However, Christian Crusaders were known to do likewise--Fulcher of Chartres chronicles how, in 1099, 10,000 Jews and Arabs were beheaded in the Temple of Solomon during the capture of Jerusalem.
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Feb 23, 2009 8:51 AM
Bill Moyers: Genetically-Encoded to Hunt Gays?

from Jeffrey Goldberg
Pete Wehner on the unfortunate behavior of Bill Moyers:
Moyers is among the most sanctimonious individuals on television (quite a feat, given the competition). He presents himself as a champion of good government, an intrepid voice for integrity and honesty, ever on the lookout for people who would degrade our public discourse or act in a dishonorable manner. That's why this revelation -- Moyers seeking information on the sexual preferences of White House staff members -- is particularly notable. And I suspect his excuse, that his "memory is unclear after so many years," probably wouldn't persuade Moyers himself, if the person in question were, say, a conservative.These haven't been such great weeks for Moyers, who was last heard suggesting that Jews are genetically-encoded for violence.
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Feb 23, 2009 8:51 AM
Holocaust Art and the Statute of Limitations

from Jeffrey Goldberg
Since Sir Norman Rosenthal, a British curator and son of German Jews, called for a statute of limitations on Holocaust art claims -- insisting "history is history and that you can't turn the clock back, or make things good again through art" -- there's been an ongoing (and often high-decibel) conversation in the art world about issue. The Guardian's art critic, Jonathan Jones, wrote last month that "nothing in today's art world is more absurd and insidiously destructive" then returning stolen art to the heirs of Holocaust victims. "At best," he explained, "restitution so long after the crime is meaningless."Obviously, not everyone agrees. Responding to Rosenthal's article and addressing the larger debate, Robin Cembalest clearly explains the stakes:
In ostensibly placing the integrity of public collections above all other considerations, these critics are ignoring a host of inconvenient truths about art stolen during the Holocaust. Beyond the fact that the looting of cultural assets was part of the larger Nazi policy of exterminating an entire people, and beyond the issue of whether it is just to pretend that museums legitimately represent the public good when they illegitimately claim to be the owners of the objects they exhibit, the fact remains that restitution research is very much a work in process.
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Feb 23, 2009 6:40 AM
Saudi Advocate to Run the National Intelligence Council?

from Jeffrey Goldberg
Laura Rozen gets the scoop that Chas Freeman, the president of the Saudi-funded Middle East Policy Council, is in line to become chairman of President Obama's National Intelligence Council. Freeman is well-known for his hostility toward Israel, but what's more substantively troubling about this report is the obvious inappropriateness of hiring a well-known advocate for the interests of Middle Eastern autocracies to produce national intelligence estimates for the Obama Administration. It would be inappropriate to appoint an official of AIPAC to run the National Intelligence Council (though it must be said that AIPAC doesn't receive any funding from the Israeli government) and it seems inappropriate to give the job to a Saudi sympathizer as well.
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Feb 22, 2009 6:46 PM
On Jews and The American Conservative Magazine

from Jeffrey Goldberg
David Schraub has a nuanced view of Glenn Greenwald's decision to write for The American Conservative:
I cannot think of a conversation that has this extreme a ratio of heat to light. I think most American Jews have a definitively negative view of The American Conservative, because Buchanan-style conservatism has always been extremely unpopular with American Jews and most Jews do consider him to be flatly anti-Semitic. Greenwald's writing in that magazine was, at the very least, probably a tactical mistake regardless of the content, if the goal is to persuade the Jewish community writ large that the dovish positions that Greenwald holds are a safe location for them. But I don't think he himself is anti-Semitic or that there are any grounds to imply otherwise.
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Feb 20, 2009 10:15 AM
Glenn Greenwald is Hysterical

from Jeffrey Goldberg
Not funny-hysterical, just hysterical. I think he feels badly about writing for The American Conservative, maybe because he knows that writing for a magazine founded by Pat Buchanan and animated by Buchanan's hostility to Jews and to Israel is a self-marginalizing act for any Jewish person trying to convince other Jews to leave Team AIPAC and support J Street. I don't read Greenwald very much -- only when Andrew links to him -- but his characterization of my politics means that he's either dishonest or ignorant. If he hasn't read what I've written about, say, the settlements, or about AIPAC, then he's not qualified to comment on my politics. If he has read these articles, then he knows that I'm not a revanchist Zionist, but falsely accuses me of being one anyway. What a putz.
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Feb 20, 2009 8:20 AM
Humor Deficit Alert, Part 174

from Jeffrey Goldberg
I just received this email, quoting back to me a recent post of mine:
"but I just want everyone to know that Khaled Meshaal is coming to my daughter's Bat Mitzvah."
ur kidding, right? (i hope...)Yes, I was kidding. Meshaal can't make it. But we're giving Hassan Nasrallah an aliya. It's the least we could do for him, since he's coming all the way from his bunker.
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Feb 20, 2009 8:20 AM
Best TSA-Bait Luggage Ever

from Jeffrey Goldberg
It's likely that even the TSA would notice these suitcases.
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Feb 20, 2009 8:20 AM
Man, That Chris Hedges is Excitable

from Jeffrey Goldberg
Via Romenesko:
"Our way of life is over," Hedges began in a monotone. "Our profligate consumption is finished. Our empire is imploding. Our children will never have the standard of living we had, and poverty and despair will sweep across the landscape like a plague. This is the bleak future. There is nothing President Obama can do to stop it. It has been decades in the making. It cannot be undone with a trillion or two trillion dollars in bailout money. Our empire is dying. Our economy has collapsed."
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Feb 20, 2009 6:44 AM
Peres: No More Unilateral Disengagements

from Jeffrey Goldberg
Israeli President Shimon Peres issues a mea culpa on the disengagement from Gaza:
"What will happen in the future, we shall not repeat the wrongs we did in leaving Gaza," Peres said in a question and answer session with a group of American Jewish leaders. "It should have been done otherwise. I was for leaving Gaza. I feel myself as one of the persons mistaken."