This cliché, amplified by president Obama, placing the state of Israel in a unique place in all our history with respect to US foreign policy, is something that would have horrified George Washington – or indeed any realist on foreign policy. It effectively means that no pressure can or will ever be brought to bear on an ally, even if its interests diverge considerably from ours. A permanent, unbreakable alliance is not an “alliance”; it is a fusion. That must mean that Israel can, at the very least, constrain America’s entire Middle East policy – as it consistently does – and no elected American president can really push back. And this connection is reinforced year after year by the huge financial lobbying machine recently detailed by Connie Bruck in the New Yorker. But a journalist, it seems to me, should at least attempt to fight against this reflexive support somewhat – or to disclose why he or she has a particular bias for another country which is at the center of public debate, when writing about it.
Can there be any stronger conflict of interest when writing about another country’s war than the fact that your own son is fighting for that foreign country? But that is the case with David Brooks. He divulged it recently in a Hebrew language interview in Ha’aretz. No, he’s not a reporter, like the NYT’s Ethan Bronner, assigned to cover Israel fairly even as his son was fighting for the Jewish state. (Bronner was assigned to a domestic beat until his son had finished his service to a foreign country.) And Brooks is a very decent man who is one of the best columnists in America. But still. Here’s what Brooks said about it:
“‘It’s worrying,'” says Brooks, ‘But every Israeli parent understands this is what the circumstances require. Beyond that, I think children need to take risks after they leave university, and that they need to do something difficult, that involves going beyond their personal limits. Serving in the IDF embodies all of these elements. I couldn’t advise others to do it without acknowledging it’s true for my own family.'”
Why not serve in the US army? Because “every Israeli parent understands this is what the circumstances require.”
The Dish 