Time Magazine and its Jerusalem Bureau Chief, Karl Vick, are making a habit of defaming Israel. The latest piece (January 11 on the Time Web site) is entitledIsrael's Rightward Lurch Scares Some Conservatives. It offers a jaundiced and factually-challenged take on recent internal Israeli issues involving citizenship questions, loyalty oaths, investigation of foreign-funded NGO's, the death of a Palestinian woman, and the demolishing of the Shepherd Hotel in Jerusalem. Vick mainly parrots far-left attacks on Israel, ignores warranted security concerns, disregards the normalcy of fractious debate in a democracy, reduces complex issues to caricature and indicts the entire public, alleging:
Self-righteous indignation is a staple position for an Israeli public whose default assumption is that Israel is always the injured party.
Vick's disparagement of the "Israeli public" is indicative of his coverage – heavy on snide editorializing, light on fact. Contrary to the reporter, of course, Israelis are sharply self-critical and often even sympathetic to their adversaries.
This is the same reporter who depicted Israelis generally as materialistic hedonists indifferent to peace in Time's notorious September 13 edition, considered anti-Semitic by many with its Star of David emblazoned with the headline: Why Israel Doesn't Care About Peace. In yet another biased piece in December, the reporter blamed Israelis for the hostility directed against them.
Vick and his editors may believe the way to salvage a declining magazine is to grab attention by maligning Israel. The publication needs to hear loud and clear the opposite will happen! The more the biased attacks on Israel, the more the magazine will lose ground – in reputation, circulation and advertising.
