The New York Times revised a headline on an opinion piece published Monday that appeared to claim that, while the recent spike in antisemitic attacks are bad, they’re even worse because they help Republicans.
Michelle Goldberg initially published the piece with the title “Attacks on Jews Over Israel Are A Gift to the Right.” Her piece began circulating on Twitter afterwards, receiving criticism from some insinuating that her article deflected from the situation at hand: Jewish people being beaten.
I know this may be a controversial take, but perhaps the main problem with domestic street violence against American Jews is domestic street violence against American Jews pic.twitter.com/9ZiOGSAoZD
— David Burge (@iowahawkblog) May 25, 2021
Ben Shapiro said the article was one of Goldberg’s worst.
“Michelle Goldberg’s column is routinely a steaming pile of horseshit. This one, however, is the Mt. Everest of steaming piles of horseshit.”
Michelle Goldberg’s column is routinely a steaming pile of horseshit. This one, however, is the Mt. Everest of steaming piles of horseshit. pic.twitter.com/XGd2kLvsup
— Ben Shapiro (@benshapiro) May 25, 2021
Former Democratic New York State Assemblyman Dov Hikind said “Michelle Goldberg should cancel herself.”
Michelle Goldberg should cancel herself. https://t.co/rElPUZL4Vp
— Dov Hikind (@HikindDov) May 25, 2021
Former U.S. Ambassador to Israel David M. Friedman called the piece “idiotic.”
In this idiotic piece, Michelle Goldberg pines for a world in which Israel can be called an apartheid state without Jews being assaulted. Sorry, no such “utopia” exists because 1) the accusation is a vile lie, and 2) antisemites don’t discriminate in their hatred. https://t.co/nxq7qLyBq9
— David M Friedman (@DavidM_Friedman) May 25, 2021
New York Magazine reporter Jonathan Chait defended Goldberg, arguing that the actual piece “does not minimize the moral harm of anti-semitic violence.”
Right-wingers are making truly stupid dunks on @michelleinbklyn by screenshotting her headline, hoping you won’t read the piece, which clearly does not minimize the moral harm of anti-semitic violence https://t.co/eitAZUHcBA
— Jonathan Chait (@jonathanchait) May 25, 2021
In the article, which has since been changed to “The Crisis of Anti-Semitic Violence,” Goldberg does note that “first and foremost” these hate crimes are a “catastrophe for Jewish people in the United States.” But Goldberg then appears to argue the real tragedy of these antisemitic attacks is that anti-Zionist Jews’ arguments are weakened and that Palestinians’ rights are taken less seriously.
“But this violence threatens to undermine progress that’s been made in getting American politicians to take Palestinian rights more seriously,” Goldberg writes. “Right-wing Zionists and anti-Semitic anti-Zionists have something fundamental in common: Both conflate the Jewish people with the Israeli state.” (RELATED: Schumer, Pelosi Slow To Condemn Anti-Semitic Hate Crimes)
“Many progressives, particularly progressive Jews, have worked hard to break this automatic identification and to open up space in the Democratic Party to denounce Israel’s entrenched occupation and human rights abuses. This wave of anti-Semitic violence will increase the difficulty of that work. The Zionist right claims that to assail Israel is to assail all Jews. Those who terrorize Jews out of rage at Israel seem to make their point for them.”
Goldberg also claims the violence is “motivated by anti-Zionism.”
Zionism is a movement that supports a Jewish state. While in some of the recent attacks the perpetrators have called Jews “zionists,” it is important to note that not all Jewish people are Zionists. Goldberg’s critics pointed out that attributing the recent spike in hate crimes to the anti-Zionist movement arguably obscures the central issue, which is that these attacks appear to be motivated by antisemitism.
The Daily Caller has reached out to the NYT but had not received a response at the time of publication.
