In mid December, Ron Dermer, a senior advisor to Israel’s prime minister, sent a letter to one of the New York Times’ editors. The letter was polite and bordered on flattery, yet it was meant to serve as a declaration of war. The New York Times offered Netanyahu the opportunity to write an opinion piece. Dermer declined the offer on Netanyahu’s behalf. The explanation given: Last May, the newspaper published, without qualifications, Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas’ distorted version regarding the historical events that preceded the State of Israel’s inception.
Dermer was also unpleased by the positions expressed by some New York Times columnists. He looked into it and discovered that out of 20 columns written about Israel in recent months, 19 criticized Netanyahu and his government, and only one (written by Richard Goldstone) was positive. “We wouldn't want to be seen as ‘Bibiwashing’ the op-ed page of the New York Times,” Dermer wrote. The letter was not meant only for the eyes of the recipient, of course. The Prime Minister’s Office quickly leaked it to the Jerusalem Post, a newspaper whose website is read by many US Jews. The objective was to silence criticism of Netanyahu in the American media, and mostly criticism leveled by Jews.
The means to do so was to delegitimize media outlets that publish such criticism. Those who dare write against Netanyahu are anti-Semites. A Jew who dares write against Netanyahu is a Jewish anti-Semite. Every loyal Jew must shut up. The New York Times is without a doubt the world’s most prominent newspaper. Any head of state given the opportunity to share his thoughts with the paper’s readers would jump at it: There is no global platform that is more important or influential. Yet Netanyahu prefers boycotts.