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Bret Stephens Says ‘Never Again’ to Peter Beinart, but New York Times Fawns
Peter Beinart, a prominent anti-Israel writer, being interviewed in January 2025. Photo: Screenshot
One of the big problems with New York Times coverage of Israel and American Jewry is the extent to which it relies on a single voice who is out of the mainstream and who isn’t a particularly reliable guide — Peter Beinart.
How far beyond the pale is Beinart? A Times columnist who is more sensible, Bret Stephens, recently wrote in Sapir about an invitation that involved “a well-known Jewish writer whose political views had, over the years, shifted from center-left Zionism to far-left anti-Zionism. The two of us had previously appeared in at least a dozen public events and, notwithstanding our deep political differences, had an amicable offstage relationship. There was also a generous honorarium on offer.”
Stephens wrote, “This time, however, something in me revolted at the thought of seeing my name next to his. I told the organizer that I would not share a platform with him. Not after October 7. Not for any amount of money. Never again.”
It was clearly a reference to Beinart. Stephens wrote, “To call now for the end of Israel invites the destruction of the Jews. That’s not a position that deserves a stage, particularly when it isn’t even made forthrightly. It fails the test of intellectual seriousness and honesty.”
Yet the New York Times has given Beinart a stage — with at least 11 Times bylines after October 7. I’ve called him the New York Times‘s favorite Jew.
Beinart’s latest piece for the Times was published April 18, complaining about what he calls a “redefinition of Jewishness” to include Zionism.
He claims that “in New York alone, at least 10 non-Zionist or anti-Zionist minyanim, or prayer communities, have sprouted in the past several years.” As much as Beinart may insist or attempt to portray anti-Zionism as authentically Jewish, these communities are going to have issues when they confront the actual words of the Hebrew Bible, with its story of the journey of the Jewish people to the land God promised and verses such as “If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget her cunning.” The ones redefining Judaism are the anti-Zionists, not the Zionists.
Some of these anti-Zionist groups billing themselves as “Jewish” exist “with organizing support from Christians for a Free Palestine.” Or they are funded with money from the non-Jewish Rockefeller Brothers Fund (on whose board Beinart sits, a fact not disclosed to Times readers). There’s nothing wrong with Jewish groups taking non-Jewish money for Jewish purposes, but taking it to undermine Israel or to redefine Judaism as anti-Israel activism is something else. The Beinart column talks extensively about Jewish Voice for Peace without disclosing to Times readers that Beinart is on the board of a foundation that is one of its main funders.
If the regular appearances of Beinart’s column in the Times weren’t enough, the Times book review recently ran a piece that deifies Beinart, referring to his writing as “scriptural” and fawning about his supposed courage. “For years, and at great personal cost, Beinart has been one of the most influential Jewish voices for Palestine,” the Times book reviewer writes. Beinart may have paid a personal cost, but professionally, he’s done okay for himself: he’s a contributing opinion writer at the New York Times, a $182,710 a year distinguished professor at the City University of New York, and runs around giving speeches at Stanford, Princeton, and Harvard.
The Times briefly came to its senses and dumped Beinart as a contributing writer in April 2021 as part of a broader housecleaning, but he’s since regained the title. A year ago, when I wrote about this, I said Beinart’s utility at the Times was commercial: “Some portion of the Times online readership — alienated graduate students and other young, college educated liberals, along with increasing numbers of non-Americans — are looking for someone to give them a pass to hate Israel, basically to excuse their antisemitism. Beinart serves that function.” In that sense, Beinart himself is the New York Times version of those Jewish anti-Israel protesters on college campuses that he devotes his column so ardently to defending.
Good for Bret Stephens for giving Beinart the “never again” treatment. Eventually maybe the people running the New York Times will wise up and make the same call.
Ira Stoll was managing editor of The Forward and North American editor of The Jerusalem Post. His media critique, a regular Algemeiner feature, can be found here.
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Israel to Send Delegation to Qatar for Gaza Ceasefire Talks
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks during a news conference in Jerusalem, Sept. 2, 2024. Photo: Ohad Zwigenberg/Pool via REUTERS
Israel has decided to send a delegation to Qatar for talks on a possible Gaza hostage and ceasefire deal, an Israeli official said, reviving hopes of a breakthrough in negotiations to end the almost 21-month war.
Palestinian group Hamas said on Friday it had responded to a US-backed Gaza ceasefire proposal in a “positive spirit,” a few days after US President Donald Trump said Israel had agreed “to the necessary conditions to finalize” a 60-day truce.
The Israeli negotiation delegation will fly to Qatar on Sunday, the Israeli official, who declined to be named due to the sensitivity of the matter, told Reuters.
But in a sign of the potential challenges still facing the two sides, a Palestinian official from a militant group allied with Hamas said concerns remained over humanitarian aid, passage through the Rafah crossing in southern Israel to Egypt and clarity over a timetable for Israeli troop withdrawals.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is due to meet Trump in Washington on Monday, has yet to comment on Trump’s announcement, and in their public statements Hamas and Israel remain far apart.
Netanyahu has repeatedly said Hamas must be disarmed, a position the terrorist group, which is thought to be holding 20 living hostages, has so far refused to discuss.
Israeli media said on Friday that Israel had received and was reviewing Hamas’ response to the ceasefire proposal.
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Tucker Carlson Says to Air Interview with President of Iran
Tucker Carlson speaks on July 18, 2024 during the final day of the Republican National Convention at the Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Photo: Jasper Colt-USA TODAY via Reuters Connect
US conservative talk show host Tucker Carlson said in an online post on Saturday that he had conducted an interview with Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, which would air in the next day or two.
Carlson said the interview was conducted remotely through a translator, and would be published as soon as it was edited, which “should be in a day or two.”
Carlson said he had stuck to simple questions in the interview, such as, “What is your goal? Do you seek war with the United States? Do you seek war with Israel?”
“There are all kinds of questions that I didn’t ask the president of Iran, particularly questions to which I knew I could get an not get an honest answer, such as, ‘was your nuclear program totally disabled by the bombing campaign by the US government a week and a half ago?’” he said.
Carlson also said he had made a third request in the past several months to interview Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who will be visiting Washington next week for talks with US President Donald Trump.
Trump said on Friday he would discuss Iran with Netanyahu at the White House on Monday.
Trump said he believed Tehran’s nuclear program had been set back permanently by recent US strikes that followed Israel’s attacks on the country last month, although Iran could restart it at a different location.
Trump also said Iran had not agreed to inspections of its nuclear program or to give up enriching uranium. He said he would not allow Tehran to resume its nuclear program, adding that Iran did want to meet with him.
Pezeshkian said last month Iran does not intend to develop nuclear weapons but will pursue its right to nuclear energy and research.
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Hostage Families Reject Partial Gaza Seal, Demand Release of All Hostages
Demonstrators hold signs and pictures of hostages, as relatives and supporters of Israeli hostages kidnapped during the Oct. 7, 2023 attack by Hamas protest demanding the release of all hostages in Tel Aviv, Israel, Feb. 13, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Itai Ron
i24 News – As Israeli leaders weigh the contours of a possible partial ceasefire deal with Hamas, the families of the 50 hostages still held in Gaza issued an impassioned public statement this weekend, condemning any agreement that would return only some of the abductees.
In a powerful message released Saturday, the Families Forum for the Return of Hostages denounced what they call the “beating system” and “cruel selection process,” which, they say, has left families trapped in unbearable uncertainty for 638 days—not knowing whether to hope for reunion or prepare for mourning.
The group warned that a phased or selective deal—rumored to be under discussion—would deepen their suffering and perpetuate injustice. Among the 50 hostages, 22 are believed to be alive, and 28 are presumed dead.
“Every family deserves answers and closure,” the Forum said. “Whether it is a return to embrace or a grave to mourn over—each is sacred.”
They accused the Israeli government of allowing political considerations to prevent a full agreement that could have brought all hostages—living and fallen—home long ago. “It is forbidden to conform to the dictates of Schindler-style lists,” the statement read, invoking a painful historical parallel.
“All of the abductees could have returned for rehabilitation or burial months ago, had the government chosen to act with courage.”
The call for a comprehensive deal comes just as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu prepares for high-stakes talks in Washington and as indirect negotiations between Israel and Hamas are expected to resume in Doha within the next 24 hours, according to regional media reports.
Hamas, for its part, issued a statement Friday confirming its readiness to begin immediate negotiations on the implementation of a ceasefire and hostage release framework.
The Forum emphasized that every day in captivity poses a mortal risk to the living hostages, and for the deceased, a danger of being lost forever. “The horror of selection does not spare any of us,” the statement said. “Enough with the separation and categories that deepen the pain of the families.”
In a planned public address near Begin Gate in Tel Aviv, families are gathering Saturday evening to demand that the Israeli government accept a full-release deal—what they describe as the only “moral and Zionist” path forward.
“We will return. We will avenge,” the Forum concluded. “This is the time to complete the mission.”
As of now, the Israeli government has not formally responded to Hamas’s latest statement.
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