The New York Times Takes A Human View Of Israel

I suggested at the end of April that the coverage of Israel by The New York Times may have improved. In an article in today's New York Times Week In Review about the reaction to the truce with Hamas, Israel in the Season of Dread, in the middle of the article you'll find:

The Israeli Army radio station, which has a wide audience, has been punctuating nearly every hour’s broadcast with an announcement of the need to “bring our sons home.” This is not merely a turn of phrase suggesting a collective conceit; Israelis relate to one another like members of a large family, and the gnawing pain felt by Mr. Shalit’s parents is widely shared in a country where the vast majority of young people serve in the military.

In fact, one of the most striking things about Israel’s internal political conversation is how personal it is. This is a tiny country of seven million that often finds itself at the center of international debate. And while Israelis often complain about this — why aren’t hundreds of journalists and human rights activists worried about North Korea or Uganda or Saudi Arabia? — they also take an odd pride in it, as if it were evidence of their secret suspicion that world history really does revolve around the fate of the Jews and their homeland.

The result is a public discourse that amounts to a bizarre mix of geopolitics and distinctly local news. It is not out of character for the morning radio broadcast to spend 10 minutes on whether Syria is building a nuclear weapon followed by 10 minutes on a young bride whose wedding was ruined when one of the sound system speakers fell on her foot. Since both are given equal weight, it can be hard to separate out the pain of one family from the strategic needs of the state. This makes it challenging for Israelis to step back far enough to gain a view of what is happening.

It's the kind of honest uncynical looks at life in Israel that we did not read in the NYT in past years. The Israeli government has been trying to find ways to humanize the way the world sees Israel--articles like this will go much further to accomplish this than a lot of the nonsense currently being tried.

Who would have thought that The New York Times, of all newspapers, could be among those taking the lead in presenting a balanced view of Israel.

Technorati Tag: Israel and The New York Times.