#760 Brith Sholom Media Watch Alert

To:       Brith Sholom Media Watch Subscribers
From:   Jerry Verlin, Editor  (jverlin1234@verizon.net)
Subj:    Brith Sholom Media Watch Alert #760, 7/26/15

This Week In The Inq:  “Israeli Support for Iran Deal”

Come again?  Yes, that was indeed a headline This Week In The Inq (Philadelphia Inquirer).  It graced that paper’s house world affairs columnist’s “Worldview” column on Friday (7/24/15, A18), which commenced “Israeli officials are orchestrating a campaign to have Congress scuttle the Iran nuclear deal,” and went on to claim that “many former Israeli intelligence and national security officials oppose their government’s approach.”

The impression one gleans from this Inq headline – “Israeli Support for Iran Deal” – and lede, “Israeli officials are orchestrating a campaign,” and Ms. Rubin’s quotations of two former Israeli intelligence heads, Ami Ayalon, former head of Shin Bet, and Efraim Halevy, former director of Mossad, who “oppose their government’s approach” by offering qualified support for the agreement, is that except for those “campaign-orchestrating” officials of an Israeli government widely perceived as right-wing, there is indeed “Israeli Support for Iran Deal.”

But is the Inq’s purveying of such an impression of “Israeli support for Iran deal” grounded in actual Israeli support for it?  On the contrary, not just officials of the Likud-led Israeli government, but even the leading figures in Israel’s political opposition, bitter critics of the Bibi-led government, stand with Bibi in opposition to the Iran deal.

Tom Gross, of TomGrossMedia.com, had a piece last Sunday, “Eight Million Jews [all right, really c. 6.2 million], Almost One Opinion,” in which he stated:

Some of President Obama’s spin-doctors continue to put out the myth that the only opposition to his Iran deal comes from Republicans and the Israeli right.

In fact, virtually the entire Israeli political spectrum has come out harshly against the deal.

For example, Tzipi Livni (who is a fierce opponent of Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu on other issues) told Foreign Policy magazine: “The Iran agreement is terrible ….”

Opposition Labor Party leader Isaac Herzog said that the deal is so dangerous that he will now work with Netanyahu to try and block it.

Israel’s third opposition leader, Yair Lapid, said: “We thought it was a bad deal, but it is in fact a terrible deal….”

And as for at least one of those two former Israeli intelligence heads whom Ms. Rubin quoted on Friday in “Israeli Support for Iran Deal,” the Jerusalem Post ran an article Friday,

Ex-Mossad Chief Halevy Emerges as One of Israel’s Few Backers of Iran Deal

It quoted him (emphasis added):  “This is not an agreement that is entirely bad,” Halevy told Channel 2 on Friday.  “There are positive elements in it.”

But, then, what about such Inq-heralded “Israeli support for Iran deal” among Israel’s notoriously internally-disagreeing rank-and-file grassroots population?  Tom Gross again:

New York Times Jerusalem correspondent Jodi Rudoren and others re-tweeted Israeli minister Yuval Steinitz:  “You know, 2 Jews, 3 opinions.  Here you have 8 million Jews, almost one opinion.  (There are in fact about 6.2 million Jews in Israel, but Steinitz point is nevertheless well taken – TG)

None of any of this – not Livni nor Herzog nor Lapid, leaders of the Israeli political opposition, nor minister Steinitz on ordinary Israelis – made it into Ms. Rubin’s column.

In reality, the Inq’s Ms. Rubin doubtless has more fans among stalwarts of the ZOA than there are Israelis who support the Iran deal.  But, given the vast attention the Western media paid to Netanyahu-led Israeli opposition to the Iran deal during its negotiating phase, there are few headline testimonials that could carry more weight as endorsements of the now-inked Iran deal than that of the-most-ominously-targeted-by-Iran Israelis.  Yet, that (together with undercutting Bibi) is the impression purveyed by the Inq’s headline “Israeli Support for Iran Deal” this week in the Inq.  For shame!

Regards,
Jerry