Some good sense from Tom Friedman

New York Times uber-columnist Tom Friedman has a pretty good column in today’s paper. Basically he’s urging everyone in Israel and the US (perhaps especially the US) not to get completely hung up on the nature of Hamas rehtoric, but to focus on the movement’s deeds instead.
A very good point!
I wish I could quote some decent-length excerpts from the column, or put in a link to it. But the NYT has instituted a system of tightly locking up much of its content into plutocrat-favoring payment systems. (Actually, our family does subscribe to the paper NYT and we thus have supposedly free access to the “NYT Select” online material… I jumped thru numerous hoops to become registered with that but I still can’t unlock Tom’s wisdom. What a crap system, may i say.)
Back to Tom. His bottom line:

    [I]t is critical that Israel, the U.S., and the Palestinians not get themselves up in a tree right now over words. There is nothing Hamas could say today that would reassure Israelis, but there is a lot it could do on the ground that would have a huge impact over time. That– for now–is where the test should be.

Excellent advice. Of course, he could have mentioned that for nearly one year now — with one exception only– Hamas has already maintained a quite unilateral tahdi’eh (ceasefire) with Israel, in an extraordinary act of organizational self-discipline that was completely unmatched by Fateh… (And Israeli Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz has already given some public acknowledgment of that fact.)
Interestingly, in an op-ed that appears rights above Tom’s column in the paper edition of the NYT, Robert Wright — writing about the “cartoons” controversy– notes that back in the 1960s, the African-American “Nation of Islam” leader Elijah Muhammad, “called whites ‘blue-eyed devils’ who were about to exterminated according to Allah’s will.” But most US liberals– though they urged Muhammad to tone down his rhetoric– nevertheless recognized the place of deep wounding and hurt that it sprang from, and managed to live with it. And, as Wright notes, the N.I.’s rhetoric became calmer over time.
Another interesting argument that Tom makes in his column is that “If Hamas is going to fail now in leading the Palestinian Authority, it is crucial that it be seen to fail on its own… not because Israel and the U.S. never gave it a chance.” He quotes Palestinian pollster Khalil Shikaki (whose brother Fathi, btw, was killed by an Israeli assassination squad ways back when) as saying, “Any minute that it is evident that Hamas is being forced to fail [by outsiders] will guarantee that any future elections will only produce another Hamas victory.”
Another good point there.
Now, it seems evident to me that Tom probably really would like Hamas to fail. I can understand that though, personally, I’m more agnostic on that question. In my view, if Hamas can deliver good results for the Palestinian people, then it really is not up to Tom Friedman, or Helena Cobban, or any other outsider to pronounce on whether they “should” succeed or fail. (I would add in there parenthetically that imho, smart pursuit of a strategy of nonviolent mass citizen mobilization is by far the most effective way for them to succeed– but I think the Hamas leaders have already figured that out.)
I certainly, however, agree with the content of Tom’s analysis there: namely, that if Hamas is seen by Palestinians as failing because of external pressures, then that will only increase the support they win from the Palestinian public.
One final note. Tom prefaces the column with a little bit of Zionist-mollifying boilerplate: “Israel would be fully justified in saying that the only correct policy toward Hamas today is a fight to the death” … before he goes on to ask, ” But would that be smart right now?”
That first statement is a really stupid, pandering thing to say. “A fight to the death”? What on earth does Tom mean? Does he think for a moment that the IDF hasn’t tried to wage just such a struggle almost continuously over the past decade? How many assassination attempts has it launched against Hamas leaders over the years, and how many mass-punitive actions against the movement’s supporters? (Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal is probably the only leader of a major political movement anywhere in the world today who is certifiably the survivor of a chemical-weapons attack. Undertaken by you-know-who, back in 1997. But many, many of his meshaal’s mentors and colleagues in the leaderships were indeed wiped out by Israel, including within the past two years.)
So why does Tom– who’s a fairly well-informed and smart guy– even say something idiotic and inflammatory like that?
I guess he was trying to cover his rear end against the swarms of NYT readers who will no doubt descend on him the moment they read the rest of his very sensible column…
So I wonder how long it will take the “usual suspects” here at JWN to descend on me for writing this little blog post?

40 thoughts on “Some good sense from Tom Friedman”

  1. I still can’t unlock Tom’s wisdom.
    I am sorry, but Friedman is always like this. I cannot be forced to read all his columns, but I track this propagandist from time to time.
    Basically, by definition of propaganda, it is possible to find something real in Tom’s writings – if you know what to look for. His statement that Hamas and Israelis are determined to fight to the death is exactly this glimpse of reality in the dark of his endless semantic manipulations.
    2006-02-13 Hamas to Russia: To be or not to be?

  2. Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal is probably the only leader of a major political movement anywhere in the world today who is certifiably the survivor of a chemical-weapons attack.
    What about Yuschenko?

  3. Also Tom Daschle and Pat Leahy.
    The ‘Nation of Islam’ is no less extreme in its rhetoric now than it was in 1965 when NOI followers gunned down Malcolm X and several of his followers. It’s less relevant because of the public attention its hateful and racist speech has garnered, not an evolution of ideology.

  4. Some good sense from Tom Friedman
    “Grandmother, what big arms you have!”
    “All the better to hug you with, my dear.”
    “Grandmother, what big legs you have!”
    “All the better to run with, my child.”
    “Grandmother, what big ears you have!”
    “All the better to hear with, my child.”
    “Grandmother, what big eyes you have!”
    “All the better to see with, my child.”
    “Grandmother, what big teeth you have got!”
    “All the better to eat you up with.”
    Red Hat

  5. Vadim, I grant you Yushchenko, yes, thanks for reminding me… Daschle and Leahy were targets of (poorly executed) biological weapons attack.

  9. The best course of action on Hamas can be a wait and see. Just shining the light on them might have some curative effect, or at least help build some outside consensus on what they are up to.
    Are they going to deflect their failures through prophet cartoon violence like Pakistan and Libya. Are they capable of building a better future for their people.

  11. “NOI followers gunned down Malcolm X”
    Aren’t there questions surrounding who was behind this murder?
    “It’s less relevant because of the public attention its hateful and racist speech has garnered, not an evolution of ideology. ”
    I am not sure what you mean here. As I recall from reading the Autobiography of Malcom X, the attention they received from a 60 Minutes report helped the movement grow. As I understand it, the movement was fatally weakened by a split between Malcom X and Elijah Muhammad.
    Strictly speaking, wasn’t Yuschenko poisoned? Does that count as a chemical weapon attack?

  13. In six months, the election of Hamas will be seen as a net plus for the U.S., as was the stroke of Ariel Sharon.
    Sharon’s epiphany that a greater Israel was not possible without the extermination or expulsion of most Palestinians, lead him to triangulate a new Israeli political center. His unilateral disengagement plan was to concede Gaza and grab choice portions of the West Bank. Kadima was created to achieve political consensus for just such a plan.(Given the break up of Likud over Gaza)
    With Sharon out of the political picture, the U.S. is more likely to extract concessions from Israel, making a viable Palestinian State (and peace) more likely.
    I suspect Hamas will be a better “partner” for peace than Fata. Hamas is less corrupt and has no PLO revolutionary baggage (Old guard with big egos and expensive villas).
    For over three decades America has backed Israel’s irrational pursuit of a greater Judea. The Muslim world noticed how millions of Palestinians were oppressed and brutalized using American money and political cover. The Muslim world will now notice our insistence that Hamas be allowed to run in the election and our standing will improve.

  15. Does that count as a chemical weapon attack?
    aren’t all extrajudicial poisoning attempts chemical attacks? mesha’al’s attempted assassination via liquid-fentanyl-to-the-ear i think was as ‘targeted’ as yuschenko’s dioxin-laced meal (& the mysterious ‘poisoned letter’ that felled chechen leader Samir Saleh Abdullah Al-Suwailem on contact in 2002.) all equally deplorable, wouldn’t you agree??
    the movement was fatally weakened by a split between Malcom X and Elijah Muhammad.
    ‘Split’ is maybe an understatement. Confessed assassin “Mujahid Abdul Halim” nee Talmadge Hayer was certainly an NOI member. I know NOI was going strong as recently as 1996,when farrakhan and khalid muhammed each spoke to a receptive crowd of thousands in washington dc. shortly thereafter former ally clarence page took farrakhan to task for whitewashing sudanese civil rights abuses. I havent heard much of him since then.
    http://www.adl.org/special_reports/khalid_own_words/khalid_own_words.asp
    Pretty ugly stuff, and needless to say unrepresentative of mainstream US civil rights activism.

  17. vadim,
    I don’t know you lost your memory or you deliberately try to fool here. Did you read ‎‎and hear about Mossad operation in Jordan those two Mussed agents caught after they ‎‎try to kill Khaled Meshaal by injecting a chemicals in his neck, then King Hussein ‎asked ‎the Israeli to hand an anti poison drug to the jordains doctors while Khaled ‎Meshaal in the hospital, until that drug delivered to third Mossad agent ‎waiting in one ‎of Amman Hotels so he survived the Mossad ugly works.‎
    What a lie we got here guys‎

    ” Sept. 25, 1997: Mossad agents try but fail to assassinate Hamas official Khaled Meshaal in Amman, Jordan. Two agents are caught and released in a prisoner swap that forces Israel to release Sheik Ahmed Yassin, a key Hamas leader.”

    http://www.jewwatch.com/jew-terrorists-mossad.html

  18. Vadim,
    I don’t think the NOI cares what the white community thinks. The mainstream press does not pay much attention to them but they have a presence in the African-American community.
    I thought the chemical weapon attack Helena refered to was an incident where the Israelis used a nerve agent to incapacitate some protesters in the Gaza strip.
    However, I think I know the case you are referring to. This was the attempt the Israelis made to poison a Hamas official in Jordan. The assassin was caught and the Israelis were forced to provide an antidote. THat definitely resembles what happened to Yuschenko.

  19. Helena,
    Tom’s wisdom
    Helena, I don’t know what wisdom Tom had if he had his writing full of hate and ‎behind the words fill the gaps with poisons meaning, his writing with a devil Helena.‎
    Tom, Daniel Pipes, and others like our commentator here David all share same ‎thinking and attitude.‎
    I think Tom using this analogy just waiting for the Israelis will come soon with ‎troubling game, as they started with US the tide now high, they shocked with the ‎outcome of the election of Hamas, as some one put it, this shock like the shock that ‎caught Israelis in 1973 War, the Israelis intelligence fall in their expectations and ‎reading of the Palestinians election.‎
    So let wait and see Tom will come with his Evil Oh “wisdom…..,‎
    Just to bring your attention to some of those kinds of peoples like Danielle Pletka, she ‎was pushing for the war strongly but when things just went not right she changed the ‎tone, asking and accusing US administrations about the war in Iraq.‎

  20. Tom Friedman. Everything he writes can be summed up as follows: crude right wing stuff, presented in the bombastic way of someone who pretends to know, and to know deeply (the ultimate authority, so to speak). He often introduces his right wing stuff by some statements which seem to be even-handed if taken in complete isolation with what follows, but which always are, in relation to their context, as meaningful as an empty shell is to a deceased snail.
    And it works. He is taken seriously. He is seen as a great expert. Saw him some time ago on Dutch television, where he was celebrated as a Great Authority Who Really Has Something To Say And Should Be Listened To.
    But I have to admit: I stopped reading him a long time ago, so the Tom Friedman of today might be a completely different person than the one I knew. Would surprise me, though.

  22. “He often introduces his right wing stuff by some statements which seem to be even-handed”
    I completely agree. I believe Friedman was educated at Oxford and I think this is a characteristically British style. When a British (or in this case British-educated) person begins an essay making arguments for the opposite side I have to wonder when the axe is going to fall.
    I think Friedman is a propagandist for Israel which is why I think the views he presents in this essay must be shared by some Israelis.

  24. vadim,
    Salah, I’d be careful citing a webpage entitled “Jew Watch.”
    Vadim, I was in Jordan at a time when it happened, I don’t need help for more info about ‎the story, if you don’t like the reference just Google you will find more links in ‎regards to this Mossad ugly works choose your favourite link to read more.‎
    The fact it’s happened and true, don’t change the subject be honest in comparing ‎things or when you give examples. As I said I think you lie in your post and this ‎understandable stick to the point ‎Vadim…….‎
    Its might good to remind you the Mossad Killing of Prof Yieha Al Mashad in Paris by ‎a women in the hotel after a week that women was found dead on the street. ‎‎“Peace Loving People” Vadim ……..‎

  25. “A strategy of nonviolent mass citizen mobilization is by far the most effective way for them to succeed”
    Succeed at what? They’ll never destroy Israel with nonviolent mass action. And that’s their goal, they keep on telling us.
    “‘A fight to the death’? What on earth does Tom mean? Does he think for a moment that the IDF hasn’t tried to wage just such a struggle almost continuously over the past decade?”
    Tom’s comments don’t preclude the idea that a fight to the death hasn’t been underway for some time. But the truth is that the Israelis have been very restrained, even ceding territory. If you consider the level of violence that Israel is capable of sustaining, and compare it to reality, you’ll notice quite a difference. During the first 4 years of the 2nd Intifada, about 3 Palestinians per day lost their lives. I think you’ll agree that Israel is capable of much higher levels of violence.

    “…if Hamas is seen by Palestinians as failing because of external pressures, then that will only increase the support they win from the Palestinian public.”
    All governments and leaders succeed and fail vs external pressures, not only domestic pressures. Nobody is given a free ride by the outside world, not Bush, not Saddam, and not the new Hamas government. Hamas whole claim to leadership is based, in part, on the idea that they were better at dealing with external pressures (i.e. Isreal). If they now need a special leeway from reality, they are more incompetent than even their enemies imagined. In any case, reality offers no such free pass.
    If Hamas policies and history put the Palestinians in a bad situation, then perhaps Hamas should never have been put in power, and the Palestinian electorate should feel the negative results of its bad decision.
    In any case, we won’t know the true situation until after the Israeli elections, when both sides are done posturing and re-organizing.

  26. N.B. Do not, from my remarks, interpret that I am a fan of Tom Friedman. He is a better reporter than a pundit, and, as such, is the most perfect example of the Peter Principle. Numerous commentators have expounded on his superficiality, et cetera. I think he should return to reporting, he’s actually good at that.

  28. I wonder how many Israelis thinks like WW, and they fill all the media and the west ‎that they loving the peace and peace process.‎
    To us Arab/Muslims those claims its like Chewing Gum Israel keep saying, in their ‎mind its like WW thinking, there are no respect whatsoever for International law, and ‎there are no admissions that they are occupiers and killers.‎
    They needs the Arab/Muslims leave their land to them, changed their Quran and ‎changes their thinking then give them all the Richness and Oil resources to be ‎controlled by them like those Private Big Fat Israelis just like the oil in Russia, but in ‎cheep way and Arab/Muslims will be slavery to them they are the Chosen peoples ‎‎”WHICH’s NOT” .‎
    ‎ Finally they needs the Arab/Muslims in Surrender Condition on their orders. ‎
    That not can happen at all wait and see.‎

  30. WarrenW
    Israelis have been very restrained, even ceding territory.
    Where is the Israelis territory?
    Israelis territory its liquid territory…

    “Rabbi Fischmann, member of the Jewish Agency for Palestine, declared in his testimony to the U.N. Special Committee of Enquiry on 9 July 1947: “The Promised Land extends from the River of Egypt up to the Euphrates, it includes parts of Syria and Lebanon.”

    http://www.geocities.com/alabasters_archive/zionist_plan.html

  31. Gideon Levy. As the Hamas team laughs http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/684258.html
    Everyone agreed on the need to impose an economic siege on the Palestinian Authority, and Weissglas, as usual, provided the punch line: “It’s like an appointment with a dietician. The Palestinians will get a lot thinner, but won’t die,” the advisor joked, and the participants reportedly rolled with laughter. And, indeed, why not break into laughter and relax when hearing such a successful joke? If Weissglas tells the joke to his friend Condoleezza Rice, she would surely laugh too.
    More than half of all Palestinians are already living in poverty according to the last United Nations report, published in December. Last year, 37 percent had difficulties obtaining food and 54 percent of the residents of the “liberated” Gaza Strip cut back the amount of food they consume. Child mortality rose by 15 percent and the average unemployment rate reached 28 percent. To travel in the West Bank, the Palestinians have to traverse no fewer than 397 checkpoints and, in addition to this, Israel now wants to wield an even heavier hand.

Comments are closed.