Israel: 'The pool into which the world spits'

Last week I quoted former Associated Press reporter Matti Friedman’s terrific description of what’s wrong in American and European reporting about Israel. Some readers have asked for more than the who, what, when, where, and how; they want to know why.

Here are some insights from Friedman that I didn’t quote: “For centuries, stateless Jews played the role of a lightning rod for ill will among the majority population. They were a symbol of things that were wrong. Did you want to make the point that greed was bad? Jews were greedy. Cowardice? Jews were cowardly. Were you a Communist? Jews were capitalists. Were you a capitalist? In that case, Jews were Communists. Moral failure was the essential trait of the Jew. It was their role in Christian tradition—the only reason European society knew or cared about them in the first place.”

Friedman added, “Like many Jews who grew up late in the 20th century in friendly Western cities, I dismissed such ideas as the feverish memories of my grandparents. One thing I have learned—and I’m not alone this summer—is that I was foolish to have done so.” He argued that mainstream journalists, as they omit reasons for Israel’s actions and propagandize for Palestinians, are making Jews “a symbol of the evils that civilized people are taught from an early age to abhor. International press coverage has become a morality play starring a familiar villain. … There are a lot of people in Europe, and not just in Germany, who enjoy hearing the Jews accused of genocide.”

Friedman’s conclusion: “You don’t need to be a history professor, or a psychiatrist, to understand what’s going on. Having rehabilitated themselves against considerable odds in a minute corner of the earth, the descendants of powerless people who were pushed out of Europe and the Islamic Middle East have become what their grandparents were—the pool into which the world spits. The Jews of Israel are the screen onto which it has become socially acceptable to project the things you hate about yourself and your own country. The tool through which this psychological projection is executed is the international press.”