Wednesday, April 23, 2008

I woke up today wondering how the New York Times will cover the story of the Israeli spy. First, it was relegated to the New York region section. Imagine if he were a spy for, say, Micronesia. It would be on the front page, and would be accompanied by an angry editorial. Instead there was this: "Mr. Kadish, a balding, gray-haired man wearing a hearing aid, shuffled into a federal courtroom in Manhattan on Tuesday afternoon..." You read this and want to cry. For the New York Times, spies for Israel should not be prosecuted or sentenced. If here were a spy for Syria, the New York Times would call for his execution in series of editorials. Notice how the political class in Washington, DC is ignoring the story. This is why Mershheimer and Walt are wrong: it is not only the lobby. It is well beyond the lobby.