The readers of The New York Times are outraged that Ethan Bronner, the Times’ Jerusalem Bureau chief, has a son who enlisted in the IDF. It’s a clear conflict of interest, they say. The New York Times public editor thinks Bronner should resign. Bill Keller (Hoyt’s boss) disagrees.
Funny, nobody seems to care that most of the wire services and many major newspapers use Palestinian stringers in their reporting. (H/T: Backspin.)
The people who are suddenly criticizing Bronner don’t seem to think that his being married to an Israeli caused a conflict of interest. So why the sudden attack on Bronner?
His stories have been criticized and praised on this site (mostly by Soccer Dad), but I have no problem whatsoever with a reporter on the Israel beat having a son in the IDF. Honestly, his critics need to grow the eff up. What, does Bronner suddenly start thinking, “Gee, my kid’s in the IDF, I’d better slant these articles anti-Palestinian now to help him out!”
Ridiculous. But not surprising. Watch for our buddy Stevie Walt to jump on the bandwagon any second now. The execrable Richard Silverstein already weighed in, playing the moral equivalency card:
And none of the NYT reporters Keller names have nearly the level of conflict that Bronner does. None have children serving in the military forces or militias of countries they’re covering. Is Keller seriously arguing that if Shahid had a son serving in the Lebanese army, Hezbollah or an Iraqi militia that the former could cover Lebanon or Iraq for the Times? Is he seriously arguing that if Fathi had a son in the Basij or Revolutionary Guards that she could cover Iran for the Times?
Yes, because the IDF is just like terrorist organizations, the terrorist-entwined Iraqi army, and the thug arm of the Iranian leadership. Sure, members of the IDF have totally been issued warrants by Interpol in relation to terrorist bombings in other countries. Oh. Wait.
Bottom line: For once, I’m on Bronner’s side. And I have to say, I don’t find him all that sympathetic to Israel in the first place.
Of course, the next argument when he bashes Israel will be, “Oh, look, even somebody with a son in the IDF says this…”
Funny nobody says anything about the NYT correspondent from Gaza Taghreed El Khodary
Bronner is incredibly anti-Israel; I’m surprised that he does have a son serving in the IDF. I wonder how that played out at home…
Probably not unlike the tension at Casey Sheehan’s home. There are some parents for whom the immediate safety of their children override all sense and reason, and often they convince themselves that even spending an extra ten seconds with the kids before they are shipped off to death camps is better than seeing them die fighting the Nazis.