Goldberg: Talking About Israel With Arabs Is Hate Speech
Goldberg: Talking About Israel With Arabs Is Hate Speech
Jeffrey Goldberg gets in on the Human Rights Watch story with one of the most comically obvious attempts by a journalist to arrive at a conclusion that I’ve ever read.
After first assuring us that he is “not one of the people who believes that Human Rights Watch is reflexively anti-Israel,” Goldberg sets out to discover whether Sarah Leah Whitson, director of HRW’s Middle East and North Africa Division, attempted to raise money from potential Saudi donors by highlighting the HRW’s “battles with ‘pro-Israel pressure groups.’” Goldberg exchanged emails with Ken Roth, executive director of Human Rights Watch, who wrote:
We report on Israel. Its supporters fight back with lies and deception. It wasn’t a pitch against the Israel lobby per se. Our standard spiel is to describe our work in the region. Telling the Israel story–part of that pitch–is in part telling about the lies and obfuscation that are inevitably thrown our way.
Goldberg interpreted:
In other words, yes, the director of Human Rights Watch’s Middle East division is attempting to raise funds from Saudis… in part by highlighting her organization’s investigations of Israel, and its war with Israel’s “supporters,” who are liars and deceivers. It appears as if Human Rights Watch, in the pursuit of dollars, has compromised its integrity.
This doesn’t even pass the laugh test. Basically, Goldberg’s view is that even discussing Human Rights Watch’s work on Israel, and the criticism that it receives from right-wing pro-Israel groups, in the presence of Arabs is tantamount to trafficking in hate speech.
Yes, it’s reprehensible, but it’s also typical of Goldberg’s general method on the issue of Israel, which involves presenting himself as a moderate and reasonable judge of various claims and criticisms — he doesn’t really like the settlements, don’t you know! — before invariably delivering bog-standard neoconservative verdicts. He’s usually less clumsy about it, though.
5 Responses to “Goldberg: Talking About Israel With Arabs Is Hate Speech”
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“We report on Israel. Its supporters fight back with lies and deception.”
This is either extremely clumsily worded, or, more likely, reflects Roth’s view that HRW is not only objective, but 100% accurate, and the ONLY criticisms it gets from “supporters” (note, not “right-wing” groups) of Israel are “lies and deception.”
Readers can find an example of perfectly legitimate criticism of tendentious HRW “reporting” here.
July 15th, 2009 at 3:53 pmBy all means, I encourage readers to follow the link to find that Bernstein’s idea of “legitimate criticism” of HRW (whose reputation is in no danger, Bernstein’s innuendos notwithstanding) is…Alan Dershowitz.
July 15th, 2009 at 8:37 pmWhat is really laughable is the notion that canvassing the elite of Saudi Arabia is somehow different from canvassing the government itself directly – the royal family pretty much wears both hats. Also, where does Goldberg imply that criticizing Israel in the presence of Arabs is a hate crime? Sounds like a pretty inflammatory statement, given that Israel is 20% Arab and there’s a heck of a lot of self criticism going on there. Anyways, I read the link but didn’t see it – can you point it out and explain how you came to this conclusion, Matt?
Thanks!
July 15th, 2009 at 10:34 pmFrankly, I’d believe Alan Dershowitz way before anything that HRW would have to say. Dissing him without any explanation sounds like name calling. And my mother told me never to call anyone names. I guess Mr. Duss’ mother didn’t teach him the same.
July 15th, 2009 at 11:49 pmReaders should also be reminded that Dershowitz is the same guy who argued for killing civilians in the south of Lebanon back in 2006.
July 16th, 2009 at 4:58 am