Gentle reader, as I have stated before, it is my considered opinion that Tom Friedman talks out of his ass with regard to the Middle East. After all, merely visiting the region occasionally doesn’t make one an expert on the area, any more than shopping at Williams Sonoma makes one a great chef. Friedman’s disturbingly popular books and articles generally parrot existing, uninformed suppositions about the Middle East, the “Arab street”, and Israel’s heroic actions while surrounded by “enemies”.
His latest Potemkin column is no exception, and it is truly magnificent in its propaganda-addled simplicity, even more so than usual!
“I have only one question about Israel’s military operation in Gaza: What is the goal? Is it the education of Hamas or the eradication of Hamas? I hope that it’s the education of Hamas. Let me explain why.”
Really, Tom? I have a question for the Israelis and it is, “exactly how many unarmed women and children is it ok to massacre with your American-taxpayer-funded clusterbombs, fighter jets, surveillance drones, white phosphorus, missile guided DIME bombs, fully-armed troops, and armored personnel carriers?”
Keeping to the IDF-approved script, Friedman goes on to assert that Hezbollah was thoroughly schooled by Israel and that it all went terribly well in 2006. Perhaps Friedman can get away with that delusional shit in an American newspaper, but outside the United States, the story is very different. Indeed, if one were to read any non-US publication on the Israel-Lebanon campaign and you’ll find that the world doesn’t agree with Friedman. Or Israel, if we’re being frank.
Friedman, with his willfully ignorant, one-sided trumpeting of the legitimacy of IDF actions in Gaza, does nothing to inform or amuse his readers. He merely bolsters the position of the nuclear bully Israel and tells NYT readers what they want to hear, namely that Israel is completely justified in killing more than 1,000 civilians, many of them women and children, and that Palestinians, be they Fatah, Hamas, or rock throwing refugee camp children, will “think three times” before striking back, David-like, against the IDF Goliath.
This sort of mass murder and disproportionate retaliation (despite the fact that it was Israel who violated the ceasefire agreement first) will not weaken the Palestinian resolve to free themselves from occupation and rule themselves, any more than the Nazis bombing the people of London had any effect on their resolve to “fight the hun” to the last man, woman or child. In fairness, the Brits had much better leadership and PR.
Perhaps Israel has at last overplayed its hand by brutalizing a civilian population, and killing and maiming so many children on international TV; and perhaps a horrified America will start to demand a fairer and more respectful peace process. After all, America is the only country who can.
I won’t be holding my breath.