The blog I will be analyzing is the Haaretz article published on December 16, 2016, “Fund Headed by Trump's Israel Ambassador Pumped Tens of Millions Into West Bank Settlement”, written by Judy Maltz. This article goes over David Friedman’s, America’s ambassador to Israel, actions and positions on settlements and the two state solution in Israel.
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| David Friedman |
Judy Maltz starts the article by presenting background information about David Friedman. She states how he is the president of a fundraising organization, American Friends of Beit El Institutions, which “According its tax forms, ...raises about $2 million in tax-deductible donations each year from supporters of the settlement movement in the United States.” This money is raised for the Beit El settlement, which the author says is one of the most radical and oldest of West Bank settlements. A benefactor of this money, is a yeshiva in Beit El, that is lead by Rabbi Zalman Melamed. A yeshiva combines traditional Jewish learning of religious texts and army service. Rabbi Zalman Melamed is the founder of the Tkuma party, which is a political party in Israel that tends to favor right winged and Orthodox Jewish policy. On top of the money going to the yeshiva, it goes to different educational programs and also to Arutz Sheva, which is a Israeli online news network.
The article continues by going over David Friedman's connection to President Trump and how he was his adviser on Israel, during his campaign, and his lawyer for 15 years. In addition to raising money for pro-settlement organizations, David Friedman has also started a new campaign in American college campuses to promote opposition of the two-state solution. The author also states that David has be known to write for Arutz Sheva, which the American Friends of Beit El Institution funds. On top of this the article briefly presents who has backed the organization, such as Jared Kushner, President Donald Trump’s son-in-law and John Bolton, Republican and former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations.
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| Rabbi Zalman Melamed |
Towards the end, the last key issue the author presents is how Rabbi Zalman Melamed, showed resistance of the Oslo agreement in 1995, by joining rabbis in protest against the evacuation of Israeli Defense Forces soldiers in occupied territories. Also in 2005 he promoted that IDF soldiers should disobey orders to evacuate the Gush Katif settlements in the Gaza Strip. This is relevant because David Friedman has shown support of Rabbi Zalman Melamed through funding. Finally the article closes with a few quotes from the organization’s website as evidence of their core values that the article previously discussed.
The author, Judy Maltz, has written hundreds of articles as a Haaretz correspondent. She seems to be a reliable writer on subjects involving Israeli politics because of the numerous articles she has written on the subject. The primary concern about the article, was that it lacked links to sources and made assessing the reliability more changeling and doubtful. Although it lacked links, finding the information she used about American Friends of Beit El Institution was simple because it was taken directly from the organization's website. For example the website clearly lists John Bolton as a speaker and the quotes she used. Another point to bring up is how the author listed a quote of David Friedman, which did not seem out of context but used fairly to show his stance. Overall there weren't any generalizations made but there was a lack of links for supporting her information.
The viewpoint of the author is seen in favor of liberal policies. This can ascertained by how she presents her information and her background. Looking at Judy Maltz’s other previous works and her Facebook profile, the reader can see that she tends to lean liberal and against the Trump organization. Haaretz is also a liberal news organization, and even promotes on their homepage to protest the occupation of settlements. This gives an idea the angle the work will be presented in, as it written about someone who is pro-settlement. Interestingly the author does not seem to make many, if any, assertions about the claims she presents but she does seem to unfairly present Rabbi Zalman Melamed. At the beginning of the article she introduces him by saying he is, “militant rabbi who has urged Israeli soldiers to disobey orders to evacuate settlements and who has argued that homosexual tendencies arise from eating certain foods.” Even though it seems out of place she puts it there to undermine his credibility by showing how ridicules anyone would be to support this person.
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