New York Times international columnist Thomas Friedman is giving the best perspectives on the Israeli-Hamas warfare.
Friedman, who won two Pulitzer Prizes for his Mideast reporting in the 1980s, is the most knowledgeable American journalist about the Israel-Palestinian conflict and the broader context of Iran's involvement through proxies such as Hezbollah, now threatening to attack Israel from Lebanon.
In his latest column, "First Came the Six-Day War, Now It's the Six-Front War," presents a broad analysis of the conflict, looking at Israeli and Palestinian politics, the nefarious activities of Iran and the need for Israel to build global support outside of the United States.
Continuing his criticism of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's move to the right and encouragement of increased Israeli settlements in the West Bank, Friedman says "If Israel is asking its best allies to help the Jewish state seek justice in Gaza while asking them to look the other way as Israel builds a settlement kingdom in the West Bank with the express goal of annexation, that is strategically and morally incoherent."
In earlier columns, Friedman opposed an Israeli excursion into Gaza to destroy Hamas, which controls the densely populated sliver of land.
Friedman harshly condemns Hamas for attacking Israel rather than alleviating the poverty of Palestinians living in Gaza. "It is terrifying to see how many resources Hamas diverted to build weapons rather than to aid Gaza's human capital - and how effectively it hid that from Israel and the world," he says in Friday's far-ranging column.
Iran draws Friedman's blame for stirring up hostilities through its control of the Arab states of Lebanon, Syria, Yemen and Iraq. Friedman discloses that the Iranian proxies have recently been attacking American forces in the region.
Friedman also castigates American college students for anti-Israeli demonstrations that "essentially blame Israel for the barbaric Hamas invasion, arguing that Hamas is engaged in a legitimate 'anticolonial struggle.'''
"To reduce this incredibly complex struggle of two peoples for the same land to a colonial war is to commit intellectual fraud," he thunders.
Reiterating his commitment to a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict ,Friedman calls upon Netanyahu to seek international support by halting Israeli settlements in the West Bank and reaching agreement with the more moderate Palestinian Authority, which controls Palestinian West Bank communities.
In columns worthy of a fourth Pulitzer Prize, Friedman is providing essential commentary on the Israeli-Hamas war.
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