{"id":1280,"date":"2004-06-09T12:31:11","date_gmt":"2004-06-09T16:31:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/000af36.netsolhost.com\/wordpress1\/2004\/06\/09\/moran_wins_post\/"},"modified":"2004-06-09T12:31:11","modified_gmt":"2004-06-09T16:31:11","slug":"moran_wins_post","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/griendling.com\/wordpress1\/2004\/06\/09\/moran_wins_post\/","title":{"rendered":"Moran Wins, Post Loses"},"content":{"rendered":"

Cong. Jim Moran (D) won his primary race for the 8th Va. district, no thanks to The Washington Post<\/em>. Despite its best efforts (which ironically included an editorial<\/a> that endorsed neither Moran or his opponent), Moran received 59% of the vote. <\/p>\n

The Post\u2019s<\/em> four-day series of stories about alleged but unstated and uncorroborated anti-Semitic remarks was shameful journalism. The articles are here<\/a>, here<\/a>, here<\/a>, here<\/a>, here<\/a> and here<\/a>. They report an unidentified remark characterized as anti-Semitic by a disgruntled vendor, pollster Alan Secrest. Yet, with no evidence (two others in attendance at the meeting where the remark was allegedly made did not hear it), The Post <\/em>went with the story.<\/p>\n

(The Post<\/em> didn\u2019t mention that Alan Secrest was part of another controversy <\/a>last year when two of his candidates, both Democrats who lost races for the Virginia General Assembly, conducted a poll he developed. \u201cMuslim-American advocates say [a] question [in the poll] portrays the entire community as sympathizing with terrorists.\u201d ) <\/p>\n

I have no idea whether Moran is anti-Semitic. But I don\u2019t think you can draw that conclusion from his past remarks that have drawn fire. Unlike Moran, most politicians will steer far away from the Israeli-Palestinian issue unless it\u2019s to say they wholeheartedly support Israel\u2019s right to exist. Add criticism of terrorism and you have as far as many politicians will go.<\/p>\n

Even journalists must pause. Rory O\u2019Connor writes a weekly column for AM New York<\/a>, a free New York tabloid. But a recent column<\/a> didn’t make it into AM New York. O\u2019Connor had his AMNY column whacked by the publisher<\/a> who didn\u2019t like O\u2019Connor\u2019s take on recent events in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.<\/p>\n

The column <\/a>explaining what happened asked people to comment, and comment they did. One recurring theme was an issue we must face if we\u2019re to have an open and honest debate about how our world will be shaped. It\u2019s the same discussion The Post\u2019s <\/em>coverage of Moran\u2019s primary race demands. <\/p>\n

Americans support Israeli\u2019s right to exist, although they do so without knowing anything about the roots of the conflict. Those roots go way back, of course, a millennium before the existence of the modern Israeli state. And with any conflict that long, there is no right or wrong party here. <\/p>\n

But most public officials are loathed to say that. As the comments on O\u2019Connor\u2019s piece point out, criticism of Israel \u2013 and by that I mean the policies of the current Israeli government \u2013is soon translated as anti-Semitism.<\/p>\n

As one anonymous commenter put it:<\/p>\n

It’s crucial for the debate to focus on the difference between political criticism and anti-semitism. Until that debate begins, any effort to report on Israeli government actions gets conflated with the Jewish religion. The conflation has not occurred accidentally; it is done with a purpose to stop any criticism of Israeli government actions. But, it’s a terrible conflation because while it is used by pro-Israeli critics to deflect any criticism of the Israeli government, it in fact is contributing to increased anti-semitism around the world. Once you buy into the concept that Israel the government is the same thing as the Jewish religion, however, it cuts both ways. That is the dilemma of political zionism. Journalists and law-makers in Congress and the Senate have bought into, or have been forced to acquiese (sic) to, this false dichotomy.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

There\u2019s a lot for people to dislike about Jim Moran, chiefly perceived ethical lapses. And his temper gives one pause. But the charges of anti-Semitism are largely trumped up because of his balanced view of the Middle East conflict. That he has been sometimes inarticulate in espousing his views hasn\u2019t helped.<\/p>\n

The more important issue is that open and honest debate. We should abhor suicide bombings and the wanton killing of civilians, especially children who know not why they died. But that doesn\u2019t mean we must support the occupation of the West Bank and Gaza, the wall that Balkanizes the Palestinians or \u201ctargeted killings.\u201d <\/p>\n

In a political world where the Democrats favored candidate is \u201cAnybody but Bush” and the Republicans demonize anyone who disagrees with them, we tend to look at everything as either\/or. It\u2019s not either\/or in the Middle East. It\u2019s not terrorism or Israel\u2019s existence. It\u2019s finding a common ground between two entities that have terrorized each other, but where both have legitimate goals and grievances.<\/p>\n

That won\u2019t happen until we can get passed the knee-jerk charge of anti-Semitism. For that to happen, I suspect it will start, as most good movements do, with the grassroots. It will start when more American Jews press for a just peace and defend those non-Jews who also do. <\/p>\n

And for all this to begin, the press, especially megaphones such as The Washington Post <\/em>, must stop trading in the type of journalism we\u2019ve seen in the past few days.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Cong. Jim Moran (D) won his primary race for the 8th Va. district, no thanks to The Washington Post. Despite its best efforts (which ironically included an editorial that endorsed neither Moran or his opponent), Moran received 59% of the vote. The Post\u2019s four-day series of stories about alleged but unstated and uncorroborated anti-Semitic remarks… Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/griendling.com\/wordpress1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1280"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/griendling.com\/wordpress1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/griendling.com\/wordpress1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/griendling.com\/wordpress1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/griendling.com\/wordpress1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1280"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/griendling.com\/wordpress1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1280\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/griendling.com\/wordpress1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1280"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/griendling.com\/wordpress1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1280"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/griendling.com\/wordpress1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1280"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}