Demosophia

Tom,
As the Media Specialist on the Israeli Consulate Speakers Bureau here in Los Angeles, I have been one of your biggest fans and staunchest defenders against accusations of bias re your reporting the Israeli Palestinian Conflict. But after watching tonight's program, defending you is going to be nearly impossible. Your report was insultingly biased against Israel, factually incorrect, and condescending to boot. Impressions are made through nuance: your looks of exasperation, and comments made to "yourself" most of which implied a frustration and "I can't believe this is happening to these poor Palestinians" opinion. Even using a mischief themed music soundtrack as Palestinians climb over the wall implies a harmlessness that simply is not true, plus omitting the often stated Palestinian/Arafat goal of possessing ALL of Israel and driving the Jews into the sea (you only need to look at the speeches to the Arab press and PA political rally footage) is a litany you know all too well but chose to omit. To leave out such critical facts on an issue so inflammatory to public opinion as the fence was irresponsible at best, unethical and intentional at it's worst. You should be ashamed of yourself because as one of the better informed journalists you know better.

This seems to be addressed to "Tom" and I'm just concerned that you might think this blog is Tom Friedman's under an alter ego or something.

While there seems to be considerable correspondence between our views on various things (and he redeemed himself on the Iraq policy quite a bit on tonight's Charlie Rose), I tend to think the wall is probably a good idea. At some point the Palestinian people will be sufficiently sick of the war that they'll deal with the terrorists in their midst themselves, and start moving slowly toward some accomodation with Israel that get's them back on the planet. I doubt that they'll ever get back to a deal as good as the one Arafat turned down after Oslo, and this time they'll have to prove their intentions before they even get an offer, but the wall is exactly the sort of sobering message that can eventually produce that result.