T THE CANADIAN JEWISH NEWS 42 Q & A APRIL 25, 2019

Bret Stephens: U.S. Jews are not single-issue voters

RON CSILLAG What is your view of media coverage [email protected] of the conflict between Arabs and Israelis? ournalist Bret Stephens has been an Jopinion columnist with the New York It’s perfectly natural The media would serve the interests of Times since April 2017. He won a Pulitz- for American Jews to truth and balance, as well as the interest er Prize for commentary in 2013 while of the Palestinian people, better if more working for the Wall Street Journal and vote their consciences attention were paid to the abuse perpe- was editor-in-chief of the Jerusalem Post on a much broader trated deliberately by the Palestinian from 2002 to 2004. range of subjects than Authority or Hamas on their own people Stephens is scheduled to speak at Adath Israel alone than to the tragedies of the conflict be- Israel Congregation in Toronto on April tween Israelis and Palestinians. And it’s 30 at 7:30 p.m. in an address to be mod- important to note that when Israel has erated by Sen. Linda Frum. faced security challenges from the Pal- estinians, it has typically used caution Can you give a brief taste of what and deliberation – compared to NATO’s you’ll be talking about in Toronto? behaviour in Afghanistan or in the U.S. actions in Iraq in the previous decade. Is- It’s two or three distinct categories. First, rael ought to be judged in that compara- Israel and its prospects after the election. Bret Stephens tive basis in terms of the way its army has The second is Israel vis-a-vis the region, acted. If it is judged comparatively, its and that encompasses not only its for- record will be seen as remarkably com- eign policy, but U.S. foreign policy and Do you think he’ll make good on his Israel alone. I’ve consistently cheered the mendable. the potential unveiling of an American promise to annex Jewish settlements president on decisions he’s made about peace plan and consequences from our in the West Bank? Israel, which I think are in Israel’s best In the age of fake news and withdrawal from the Iran nuclear agree- interests: the embassy, the Iran deal and unprecedented distrust directed at ment. And the third is more specifically No. Look, I interviewed Netanyahu in ear- the Golan Heights decision. On the other legacy media, do you think trust in Jewish, and that has to do with the rise ly 2009, at the time of the first of the three hand, whether Trump’s overall record in the media can ever be restored? not just of anti-Semitism, but the rise of major Gaza wars. His criticism of the Ehud the Middle East proves to help Israel’s sec- thinking that produces anti-Semitism, Olmert government was that it had failed urity, I think the verdict isn’t entirely clear. It should be restored. I would quote my both on the progressive left and the far to go into Gaza, take Hamas out, reoccupy Removing American troops from Syria colleague Frank Bruni, who gave a terrific right. the strip and change the nature of Pales- was a very bad decision, and I think the speech on the subject. He said the media tinian governance. Here we are, a decade North Korea precedent raises questions are not fake, they’re flawed. There are You said in a column that Benny later, and the policy of the Netanyahu gov- about how successfully a Trump admin- many thousands of journalists not only Gantz deserved to win the Israeli ernment is exactly the same as the Olmert istration could renegotiate a second Iran doing their best, but also taking extra- election. What do you make of Prime government. I expect the same is true of deal, if they could do it at all. ordinary risks to tell the kinds of stories Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s the West Bank promises, which struck me that lead to a richer and freer world. And victory and what do you think it will as more of a political ploy in the run-up What things could the U.S. and other when President Trump denounces the entail? to the election than a serious promise. So governments be doing to combat anti- “fake” and “fraudulent” news, he’s creat- I think it should be taken with a grain of Semitism? ing a template that is being copied by the I’m glad that Israel now has its “Blue and salt. dictators of the world, to the detriment of White,” a serious opposition party that Well, it would be nice to have a president everyone’s interests. demands a substantial bloc of votes and U.S. President Donald Trump has who doesn’t constantly, whether inadver- Does that mean the media isn’t a flawed which has at last gotten on the right side done things for Israel few people have tently or not, rehash anti-Semitic tropes. institution, that we don’t have biases, that of the security issue. The problem with dreamed. Do you expect more Jewish He went before a Jewish audience recent- we don’t do enough to correct those bias- what used to be called the left in Israel is voters will reward him with their votes ly and spoke of “your prime minister” es? No, of course not. But it does mean that it was on the wrong side of the sec- in 2020? – Netanyahu. That was, wittingly or not, that we are an absolutely essential pillar urity issue. suggesting dual loyalty. When he attacks of a free society, and that rather than try Secondly, in Netanyhau, Israelis had a Maybe on the margin. But if you look at “globalists,” he’s replicating language that to destroy us, it would behoove govern- leader who, for all the whiff of scandal the results of the midterms, something like has been used commonly against Jews ment leaders, including President Trump, and legal jeopardies he’s in, has been a three-quarters of American Jews voted for for centuries. That matters because the to celebrate the work we do. If you listen steady and successful prime minister. the Democratic ticket, and that was after problem with anti-Semitism is that it is, to people like George W. Bush or other Diplomatically, he expanded the range of Trump had relocated the embassy to Jeru- at some level, a conspiracy theory that conservatives, they understood, even Israel’s relationships in a way that scarce- salem and withdrawn from the Iran deal but holds that a small group of nefarious and when they were in power, that they need- ly can be imagined when I was editor-in- had not yet extended U.S. recognition of Is- shadowy people are running the world at ed a critical media to keep them honest, chief of the Jerusalem Post. In terms of raeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights. the expense of the vast majority of others. to keep them on their toes. And no one is security, Israel is probably more secure American Jews are not single-interest And one of the consistent objections I’ve going to benefit if we see trust in journal- today that it has been in quite some time. voters. However they may feel about those had to this administration is that it indul- ism erode further. The responsibility is on Finally, economically, Israel is pros- decisions, vis-a-vis Israel, they’re weighed ges in a great deal of that rhetoric, even multiple ends. Journalists have a respons- pering as it never has. So all of that means against other political considerations. I as it is unmistakably pro-Israel. It would ibility to do better in terms of fairness, bal- Israelis were not irrational in wanting think it’s worth remembering that every also be nice if the Democrats forthrightly ance and accuracy. But political leaders to stay the course. He’s now dominated American Jew is an American very much denounce, without caveat or equivoca- also have a responsibility to do better in Israeli politics for the better part of 25 by choice, because every American Jew, tion, the anti-Semitism we’re increasing- terms of celebrating the role of the press years. Ten years in office was enough. I in some sense, has opted not to make ly seeing from the progressive left in the in keeping everyone honest. n think Bibi in many ways has been a div- aliyah. So it’s perfectly natural for Amer- form of so-called anti-Zionism. Will the isive leader and that Israel could have ican Jews to vote their consciences on Democratic party remain a liberal party This interview has been edited and benefited from a more uniting figure. a much broader range of subjects than or become a Corbynite party? condensed for style and clarity