Attributing sinister, ulterior motives to an entire group should be in the realm of bigots, not of journalists. Yet, seven local newspapers owned by Lee Enterprises apparently thought otherwise when publishing a May 29 article, “U.S. Rep. Virginia Foxx’s attorney wants a federal judge to dismiss a lawsuit against her,” by Winston-Salem Journal reporter John Hinton.
Hinton’s story covers legal proceedings between the former chairwoman of the House of Representatives’ Education and Workforce Committee, Rep. Virginia Foxx, and Khymani James, a former Columbia University student who believes all Zionists – including the vast majority of Jews – “deserve to die.” Hinton’s article never details James’s rhetoric, misleadingly describing it as “criticism of Israel and support of the Palestinian people.”
But the bias gets even more egregious.
The article egregiously redefines “Zionism,” adopting a false and overtly partisan and prejudicial description:
At Columbia University, these protests were often led by groups advocating for Palestinians and against Zionism, which wants an expansion of the Jewish state into Palestinian territory. (Emphasis added)
While there are various concepts of Zionism among its supporters, Hinton’s definition fits few, if any, of them. The Anti-Defamation League defines it as “the movement for the self-determination and statehood for the Jewish people in their ancestral homeland, the land of Israel,” perhaps the most common understanding of Zionism. Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis described it as, “nothing more or less than the near 4,000-year-old expression of the Jewish People’s connection to, and right to self-determination in, the land situated at the very heart of Jewish faith and peoplehood.” New York Times columnist Bret Stephens once described the movement as “an attempt to unshackle Jews not just from foreign rule but also from foreign ideas.”
Nothing in these conceptions of Zionism, articulated by Zionists, suggests it is about “an expansion of the Jewish state.” Indeed, Stephens himself has written that he supported Israel withdrawing from territories like the Gaza Strip. Many, if not most, self-proclaimed Zionists do not support expanding Israel’s borders. The inherently Zionist governments of Israel through the decades have consistently been willing to trade land in exchange for peace, even after obliterating their enemies’ armies during defensive wars.
So where did Hinton get his definition? It’s hard to say with certainty given the plethora of activist groups hostile to the very notion of Jewish self-determination. Antisemites and those who have sought Israel’s destruction have long advanced the baseless notion that Jews seek a “Greater Israel,” attempting to fabricate the existence of a Jewish threat to the world. But given that Israel controls less than half the territory now that it did in the aftermath of the Six Day War in 1967 – less than the state of New Jersey – the “expansionist Israel” narrative defies the facts, the historical record, and common sense.
Nonetheless, seven local news outlets allowed Hinton to cynically redefine the movement for Jewish self-determination. In addition to the Winston-Salem Journal, his report was picked up by The McDowell News, The News Herald, Mooresville Tribune, Hickory Daily Record, Statesville Record & Landmark, and News & Record.
To their credit, both the Winston-Salem Journal and News & Record corrected the article after communication from CAMERA. As of this writing, however, none of the other five outlets nor Lee Enterprises have responded to CAMERA or corrected the error.