Why Did the New York Times Publish Fake News About Trump, Zionism, and Alan Dershowitz?
On Nov. 20, the Zionist Organization of America, a small hard-right pro-Israel group, held its annual gala. To the chagrin of many in the American Jewish community, Donald Trump’s newly-appointed senior strategist Stephen Bannon was scheduled to attend. Outside, scores of Jews protested. And inside, celebrated Zionist lawyer Alan Dershowitz, who had been scheduled to speak before Bannon had been invited, took the opportunity to issue a pointed warning to those in attendance.
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This warning was of a piece with Dershowitz’s critique of Bannon, outlined in an op-ed titled: “Bannon’s not an anti-Semite. But he is an anti-Muslim, anti-women bigot.” Asked by The New Yorker about the anti-Bannon protesters outside the ZOA gala before his speech, Dershowitz said, “Part of me wants to be with them. But … I confront. In the twenties, Jews were seduced by Communists. Now it’s by a populist right that has elements of Fascism. I’m going to try to warn against that tonight.” For his performance, The Daily Beast dubbed Dershowitz “the bravest man of the night.” Bannon ultimately didn’t show.
And yet, remarkably, The New York Times published a piece yesterday which falsely claimed Dershowitz defended Bannon at the ZOA. Writing for The Stone philosophy blog in a post titled “Liberal Zionism in the Age of Trump,” New School assistant professor Omri Boehm attempted to argue that “Zionism [is] a political agenda rooted in the denial of liberal politics” that inevitably dovetails with hard-right bigotry and apologism. His banner example? Alan Dershowitz.
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Boehm claims that American Jews must either opt to “hold fast to their liberal tradition, as the only way to secure human, citizen and Jewish rights” or “embrace the principles driving Zionism” and become apologists for bigotry. The problem with this dichotomy is that it only holds up if one erases the great many Zionists who expose it as a false choice—which is exactly what Boehm proceeds to do. Thus, he inverts the position of a center-left Zionist like Dershowitz, who has been repudiating Zionist fascists since Boehm was five years old. He entirely omits the strident criticism of Bannon by the centrist Zionist Anti-Defamation League. The piece never quotes anyone affiliated with J Street, the liberal Zionist lobby that has campaigned tirelessly against Bannon. And Boehm similarly elides conservative Zionists like Commentary editor John Podhoretz, who wrote that while Bannon may not personally be an anti-Semite, “it should go without saying that the president of the United States should not have a tawdry, destructive, and repulsively uncivilized goon as a chief strategist.”
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http://www.tabletmag.com/scroll/220635/why-did-the-new-york-times-publish-fake-news-about-trump-zionism-and-alan-dershowitz
Some people here say the same thing about liberal Zionism, that it's a contradiction because Zionism is inherently fascist or something. Not surprisingly, most democrats see through that BS.
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