Firestorm As Freeman "Withdrawal" Explodes in MSM

Until today the story of the "pro-Israel" right's efforts (ultimately successful) to keep a critic of Israel's policies out of the National Intelligence Council has been confined to the blogosphere. As is usually the case with this subject, the so-called MSM is afraid to touch this issue with a ten foot pole. Of course, that is what the whole Freeman case was about. Worse than that, it is about the fact that the President is prevented from appointing a distinguished public servant to an intelligence post because he is critical of Israeli policies. When it comes to American policies, criticism -- even harsh criticism -- is both standard and unremarkable. That is also how it is in Israel which is even more open than we are about the rough-and-tumble aspects of democracy. It is only criticism of Israeli policies by Americans that can sink an aspirant for an appointed position or high office. You can trash the Iraq war. You can call the President, any President, a fool, a liar or a war criminal. But if you say that the 40-year occupation is a blight on both Israeli and American interests, a full-blown, no-holds-barred campaign will be launched against you. Not only that, the people who launch these campaigns do it in the dark without opening the debate to the American people. I find this appalling. It is bad for America, bad for Israel, and bad for the Jewish community (which is increasingly and unfairly being seen as stifling debate on the Middle East when, in fact, it is only a small unrepresentative but powerful minority that is engaged in the effort). This has to stop for America's sake, and Israel's too. Page one: New York Times on Freeman Page one Washington Post on Freeman David Broder on Freeman