"I have been but little in," said Ninian hastily...

According to the Guardian

Danny Rubinstein, Arab affairs editor of Ha'aretz newspaper and a member of its editorial board, has landed himself in hot water with the British Zionist community. He had the temerity to say something outside Israel that can be read in his own newspaper and others quite regularly. At a UN conference on Palestinian human rights he called Israel an "apartheid state"

This goes hand in hand with a replayed episode of On Point that I heard last night on NPR, in which Abe Fox of the ADL compared Stephen Walt and John Mearsheimer to Hitler and Stalin because they dared to describe the pro-Israel lobby in the US and point out that its actions don't always add up to good policy for the US...or even for Israel. Now, I've not yet been convinced that Tom Ashbrook is anything like a real journalist, and his handling of this show convinced me that he's not. How anyone can, with a straight face, pretend that Walt and Mearsheimer have said something new, revolutionary, or truly debateable is beyond me. But Ashbrook went even farther than that, by effectively supporting Fox and calling the two antisemitic. Totally irresponsible hatemongering in the guise of 'impartial' journalism. Impartial my arse.

I find it sad that, once again, those who want to defend the indefensible are trying to hide behind charges of racism. Fox's performance was worthy of Marion Barry in his prime, but who was Ashbrook trying to be? Tony Snow?