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For Israel, No News Is Good News

[Ha'aretz] Michael Oren - Israel is no longer in the news in Washington. For the past month, at least, Israel - indeed, the entire Middle East - has been knocked out of the newspapers and from television screens by the financial crisis and the presidential election. Israeli events that once would have made headlines in America are now relegated to the back pages, if not unreported altogether. This is good news for those who felt that the Jewish state is unfairly placed under a media microscope intent on magnifying its faults. In spite of Obama's pledge to personally and vigorously pursue an Arab-Israel accord, the president-elect is likely to lack both the time and financial resources to take on a time-consuming and potentially expensive peace initiative. Nor will he, with domestic newspapers crammed with stories of layoffs and foreclosures, be under immediate pressure to embark for the distant Middle East. The falloff of coverage of Israel in the U.S. is almost certain to be temporary. The writer is a senior fellow at the Shalem Center in Jerusalem and a visiting professor at Georgetown University's School of Foreign Service.
2008-11-07 01:00:00
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