Tom Friedman has a troubling column today in the New York Times. “I sure hope that Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, understands that the standing ovation he got in Congress this year was not for his politics,” Friedman writes. “That ovation was bought and paid for by the Israel lobby.”
This remark prompted a sharp comment from New Jersey congressman Steve Rothman, a Democrat. “Thomas Friedman’s defamation against the vast majority of Americans who support the Jewish State of Israel, in his New York Times opinion piece today, is scurrilous, destructive and harmful to Israel and her advocates in the US. Mr. Friedman is not only wrong, but he’s aiding and abetting a dangerous narrative about the US-Israel relationship and its American supporters,” Rothman says in a statement released by his office.
Rothman continues: “I gave Prime Minister Netanyahu a standing ovation, not because of any nefarious lobby, but because it is in America’s vital national security interests to support the Jewish State of Israel and it is right for Congress to give a warm welcome to the leader of such a dear and essential ally. Mr. Friedman owes us all an apology.”
Elliott Abrams comments on Friedman’s remarks:
