February 9, 2004

Tom Friedman Embraces Anti-Semitic Canard

By Richard Baehr
Tom Friedman is rarely original when it comes to Israel. His mantra for several decades has been that Israel was the primary obstacle to peace with the Palestinians, because of its policy of expanding settlements in the West Bank and Gaza. Friedman seems to be unaware of, or doesn't care to consider, the inconvenient fact that Palestinian terror attacks designed to kill Jews and destroy Israel, preceded by decades Israel's victory in the six day war, which first brought these territories under its control.  The failure of Bill Clinton's Camp David summit in 2000, and the near immediate decision by the Palestinians to begin the murderous intifada, also puts the lie to Friedman's argument. Barak offered to return 97% of the West Bank and all of Gaza, and an equivalent slice of land within pre—1967 Israel to match the 3% of the West Bank Israel would annex.  If Sharon were the problem, or settlements were the problem, why couldn't Barak get the Palestinians to make...(Read Full Article)