I have an old friend who has achieved considerable success in the field of investigative print journalism and whose counsel I have sought in the past on a variety of matters. He’s visited most places in the more volatile
regions of the world and consistently produced a high standard of objective reporting. One day we were discussing the way he is perceived by the media and indeed, by the general public, and he made a statement that for me should set the benchmark for objective coverage of news in the industry.


He said “One day they love me, the next day they hate me. Jews think I’m anti-Semitic, Muslims think I’m anti-Islamist, and churchgoers think I’m one of those atheists who undermine Christianity! I must be doing something  right!”

 
When you hear right-wing supporters refer to a media source as left-wing, and left-wing supporters refer to the same as right-wing, you can bet your bottom dollar that the source of the argument is almost certainly walking the middle line, and that is how the new Times of Israel website has been perceived by a number of people who have discussed the matter with me in recent days since the site was launched only a week ago. In short, it’s an encouraging start for an online newspaper that has set out with the express intent of trying to reflect as accurately as possible all sides of the argument.

 
The danger, of course, is that if you are not careful you can end up falling between too stools. Most people like to read what they want to hear, and if they don’t have their opinions validated by their newspaper they can easily consign it to the dustbin.

 
The Times of Israel has been created by the respected journalist and former Jerusalem Post editor David Horovitz, with financial backing from the hugely wealthy American fund manager and philanthropist Seth Klarman. In his first article on the founding of the new title Horovitz accurately described the internal frictions in Israel as follows:

“I happen to think that we Jews, in this one country where we’re a majority, can be our own worst enemies – spectacularly intolerant of one another, in ways we would never tolerate in Jewish communities overseas. We undermined our two previous attempts at sovereignty millennia ago, through internal hatreds; we’ve murdered our own prime minister this time; we suffer streams of Judaism furiously at odds with each other. We argue bitterly, incessantly, over the best means to safeguard the well-being of the Jewish state and the Jewish nation worldwide.”


Sadly, it’s hard to argue with Horovitz’s assessment of the people of this country, but that doesn’t mean that there shouldn’t be a player in the Israeli and  international media that reflects both sides of the argument to a local and international audience, and does so in English. Most people perceive the long established Jerusalem Post to be a right-leaning publication, whilst it’s hard to argue anything other than Ha’aretz having a strong left-wing slant, and until this month they have been the only two English-language newspapers of any note based in Israel and focusing on Israeli and world Jewish affairs.

 
A few weeks ago I was approached by the Times of Israel to produce additional blog material for their new site - separate from that which appears on my own blog - and like all the other bloggers on their roster have been given a free hand to write about what interests, concerns or amuses me. I’m happy to be able to speak to a wider audience and hope they find my thoughts on life here in Israel and the region of some interest, but I will continue on a fortnightly basis to offer my opinions on developments in this ever more volatile region via this blog and hope you too will continue to visit.

 
With the outcome of so many different regional conflicts and the growing internal conflict here in Israel almost impossible to call, there will be much on which to focus in the remaining 10 months of 2012. Via this blog and the Times of Israel, I hope you will find time to consider my opinion alongside those of many far more learned and high-profile figures than me, and will pass on the  links to both websites in an effort to spread the word and give as many people as possible a broader, fairer view of life in the State of Israel.  

 
“Fair-minded journalism”, wrote Horovitz in his opening message to readers of the new website, “based in Israel, and read both here in Israel and among those who care for the Jewish nation around the world, has a vital, even noble role to play in enabling informed debate over the challenges and the choices that face the Jewish state. Informing that debate is one of the prime goals of The Times of Israel.”

 
I wish him and all the team involved in the project the very best of luck in what is going to be a tough battle for the hearts and minds of Israeli readers and those in international Jewry and far beyond.


 
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