When the Herald runs columns from supposedly credible New York Times columnists, you would think this paper would make sure that the journalists’ facts would line up with the truth. Unfortunately, Nicholas Kristof’s March 3 column left a lot to be desired in the category of truth.
Of course, when it comes to Israel, Kristof and Thomas Friedman take great liberties in making sure Israel and the Jewish people are seen as the most offensive oppressors of human rights in the Middle East. In Kristof’s latest essay – and with too many untruths told in his rambling column – you only need one lie to show the lack of credibility.
Kristof writes: “Israel is also a democracy with contradictions. West Bank Jews vote, but not West Bank Palestinians.” That is an outright lie. Yes, the Jews in Judea/Samaria (West Bank) do vote as citizens of Israel. The Palestinians of the West Bank are under the jurisdiction of the Palestinian Authority and were given the right to vote for their leadership by the Oslo Accords of 1993. They are not (and have never been) Israeli citizens with a right to vote in Israeli elections.
What Kristof will not tell you is that Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas is currently in his 10th year of a four-year term of office as president of the Palestinian Authority. Abbas and his friends in the West Bank have refused to hold elections since 2005 for fear that they would not fare well for his Fatah party. Israel never once prevented Abbas from holding these elections or postponed such elections.
The Oslo Accords granted the Palestinians their voting rights. It is the Palestinian Authority who do not let them exercise that right! Kristof should heed Daniel Patrick Moynihan’s famous quote: “Everyone is entitled to his own opinion, but not to his own facts.” The Herald should take that advice as well if it wishes to remain credible.
Shelly Perlmutter
Durango
