{"id":4111,"date":"2008-01-25T02:46:19","date_gmt":"2008-01-25T10:06:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.amptoons.com\/blog\/archives\/2008\/01\/25\/strong-supporter-of-israel-and-pro-israel-shouldnt-mean-right-wing\/"},"modified":"2008-01-25T02:46:19","modified_gmt":"2008-01-25T10:06:07","slug":"strong-supporter-of-israel-and-pro-israel-shouldnt-mean-right-wing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/amptoons.com\/blog\/?p=4111","title":{"rendered":""Strong Supporter of Israel" and "Pro-Israel" shouldn't mean "right wing""},"content":{"rendered":"

Jim Lobe points out<\/a> that “strong supporter of Israel” is too often used by the press as shorthand for “extreme right-wing views on Israel.” For instance, the Washington Post<\/em> referred to the founders of “Freedom’s Watch” as “strong supporters of Israel.”<\/p>\n

I don\u2019t doubt that the group\u2019s donors consider themselves \u201cstrong supporters of Israel\u201d, but what precisely is meant by that? If the phrase means supporters of the government of Israel, then it is inaccurate, because the positions of Adelson and other Watch donors on such key questions as Jerusalem, the West Bank \u2014 indeed, any territorial compromise \u2014 even Annapolis and a two-state solution, are well to the right of the current Israeli government. In fact, Adelson, like most RJC heavyweights, are strong supporters of former Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and his Likud Party which, the last time I checked, constituted the government\u2019s chief political opposition and is maneuvering to bring it down. So, if they oppose the current government of Israel, in what way are they \u201cstrong supporters of Israel?\u201d<\/p>\n

This kind of journalistic shorthand \u2014 associating neo-conservatives and their organizations like the RJC and Freedom\u2019s Watch \u2014 with being \u2018\u2019pro-Israel’\u2019 or \u201cstrong supporters of Israel\u201d \u2014 is unfortunately pervasive in the mainstream media. It is not only inaccurate; it is also dangerous. It […] puts those individuals or organizations \u2014 particularly in the American Jewish community \u2014 that are very concerned about Israel but that believe that the neo-conservatives have actually undermined<\/a> the country\u2019s security in a kind of political limbo. After all, if Adelson, Freedom\u2019s Watch, and the RJC are considered \u201cpro-Israel\u201d or \u201cstrong supporters of Israel,\u201d what does that make Americans for Peace Now or the Israel Policy Forum, both of which consider themselves \u201cpro-Israel\u201d and \u201cstrong supporters of Israel\u201d but also believe, contrary to hard-line neo-conservatives, that a two-state solution with major territorial compromises that include East Jerusalem are the only way to ensure Israel\u2019s security and long-term survival?<\/p>\n

This kind of lazy journalistic labeling has very real and very unfortunate political consequences.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I’d take issue with the “best interests at heart” phrase, which gets into motives. I do think it’s true, however, that calling right-wing policies “pro-Israel” implies that these policies are good for Israel, which is a partisan opinion that many would disagree with. The mainstream media should find a more neutral term to use.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Jim Lobe points out that “strong supporter of Israel” is too often used by the press as shorthand for “extreme right-wing views on Israel.” For instance, the Washington Post referred to the founders of “Freedom’s Watch” as “strong supporters of … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[54,61],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4111","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-media-criticism","category-palestine-israel"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/amptoons.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4111","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/amptoons.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/amptoons.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/amptoons.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/amptoons.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4111"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/amptoons.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4111\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/amptoons.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4111"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/amptoons.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4111"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/amptoons.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4111"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}