(NEWS) Tom Friedman Must Apologize For Slandering Israel

"I don’t often read Tom Friedman in The New York Times. True, he is one of the most lucid writers in America, and his crystal-clear prose helps in understanding some of the world’s most intractable conflicts. He can also be repetitive, tiresome and a little too in love with his own ideas.

As a triple winner of the Pulitzer Prize, Friedman is a man of considerable influence. But he is always lecturing Israel. If only the Jewish state would listen to his recurring advice, manna again would rain from the heavens, the dead would be resurrected and the Arabs would welcome Israel with daises and lilies.

Friedman certainly is entitled to his view. But he is not entitled to slander Israel, and last Sunday he did so with relish.

In words that blur the line between commentary and defamation, Friedman wrote of the 'brutality of Israel’s retaliations' against Hezbollah and Hamas, and how Israel 'chose to go after them without being deterred by the prospect of civilian casualties.' He then crossed a line of common decency when he irresponsibly accused Israel of using “Hama rules” in its war against the twin terror groups."