Jeffrey Goldberg

Jeffrey Goldberg is an American-Israeli journalist and Zionist political pundit that writes for David G. Bradley's The Atlantic. Referred to as Netanyahu's "faithful stenographer" by Roger Cohen of The New York Times, Goldberg focuses on matters related to Israel and its relationship with the United States in particular. He was influential in building American support for the 2003 invasion of Iraq and has been criticized for making alarmist claims and using unreliable sources during the run-up to the war. Goldberg is also known for launching attacks on those who criticize Israeli policy while constantly pushing the claim that Israel is a strategic asset rather than a liability for the US. He has publicly attacked fellow staff members at The Atlantic (as well as the editors for their lack of "editorial standards") for allegedly making comments that are critical of Israel even though the publication and its writers are known to propagate a pro-Israel line.

Early History

Goldberg was born and raised in New York but his self-stated strong identification with Israel saw him joining a Zionist summer camp and Kibbutz during his youth. He relocated to Israel during his college years and joined the Israeli Defense Forces shortly after. His acclaimed book, Prisoners: A Story of Friendship and Terror, is a memoir which includes an account of his experience as a guard at Ketziot, an Israeli prison located in the Negev desert were thousands of Palestinians were detained during the first intifada. Still in operation today, Ketziot is known for its harsh living conditions and for imprisoning boys and men without trial.

During his residency in Israel, Goldberg served as a journalist for the right-wing Jerusalem Post. While working as Washington correspondent for The New Yorker, Goldberg produced an 17,000+ word article entitled "The Great Terror" which George W. Bush, Dick Cheney and others referenced as justification for the US invasion of Iraq. In it Goldberg described Saddam Hussein's gassing of the Kurds in long and vivid detail and strongly suggested that Hussein posed the same threat to the US and other nations. Goldberg also suggested that the Iraqi regime had ties with Al Qaeda. The article won the Overseas Press Club award for "Best international reporting in a print medium dealing with human rights."

Goldberg has reported from various political hotspots in South Asia and the Middle East including Iraq, the occupied Palestinian territories, Afghanistan and Pakistan. He has received awards from various organizations including the Anti-Defamation League which provided him with their Daniel Pearl Prize in 2005.

Analysis of "The Great Terror"

Goldberg is known for a series of articles he wrote during the run-up to the 2003 US-led invasion of Iraq which were used as reference by pro-war advocates. A 17,000+ word article in The New Yorker entitled "The Great Terror" was referenced by members of the Bush administration and has since been debunked by several analysts for its use of questionable sources and deeply alarmist claims.

Goldberg on the alleged link between Iraq & Al Qaeda

"The allegations include charges that Ansar al-Islam has received funds directly from Al Qaeda; that the intelligence service of Saddam Hussein has joint control, with Al Qaeda operatives, over Ansar al-Islam; that Saddam Hussein hosted a senior leader of Al Qaeda in Baghdad in 1992; that a number of Al Qaeda members fleeing Afghanistan have been secretly brought into territory controlled by Ansar al-Islam; and that Iraqi intelligence agents smuggled conventional weapons, and possibly even chemical and biological weapons, into Afghanistan. If these charges are true, it would mean that the relationship between Saddam’s regime and Al Qaeda is far closer than previously thought."

Goldberg on Iraq's alleged WMDs

"There is some debate among arms-control experts about exactly when Saddam will have nuclear capabilities. But there is no disagreement that Iraq, if unchecked, will have them soon, and a nuclear-armed Iraq would alter forever the balance of power in the Middle East. “The first thing that occurs to any military planner is force protection,” Charles Duelfer told me. “If your assessment of the threat is chemical or biological, you can get individual protective equipment and warning systems. If you think he’s going to use a nuclear weapon, where are you going to concentrate your forces?”

There is little doubt what Saddam might do with an atomic bomb or with his stocks of biological and chemical weapons. When I talked about Saddam’s past with the medical geneticist Christine Gosden, she said, 'Please understand, the Kurds were for practice.'"

According to Alexander Cockburn, Goldberg's "The Great Terror" could not have come at a better time for pro-war members of the Bush Administration because it followed a joint FBI-CIA investigation which revealed that the alleged meeting between a 9/11 hijacker and an Iraqi intelligence agent prior to 9/11 (used as evidence that Al Qaeda was linked to Iraq) had not actually happened. Cockburn also notes that Jason Burke of the London Observer visited the Sulaimaniya prison where Goldberg met Mohammed Mansour Shahab, his main source for the "Great Terror," and established his lack of credibility. Burke's claim was also echoed by other journalists:

"The piece was gratefully seized upon by the Administration as proof of The Link. The coup de grâce to Goldberg's credibility fell on February 9 of this year in the London Observer, administered by Jason Burke, its chief reporter. Burke visited the same prison in Sulaimaniya, talked to Shahab and established beyond doubt that Goldberg's great source is a clumsy liar, not even knowing the physical appearance of Kandahar, whither he had claimed to have journeyed to deal with bin Laden; and confecting his fantasies in the hope of a shorter prison sentence.'"

In 2006 Ken Silverstein of Harper's Magazine noted that after successfully aiding the Bush Administration by warming Americans to the idea of waging war on Iraq, Goldberg began advising the Democrat Party against calling for a withdrawal because it would be exploited as a sign of weakness by the Republicans:

"Goldberg and his friends predicted that events would unfold smoothly in Iraq, and now that they haven't, he wants to make sure that U.S. troops stay put and fight the war that he helped promote. The Democrats, he told the Washington panel, can regain power only by reaching out to their conservative wing (and to voters even further to the right who over the years have migrated from the party to the G.O.P.). He's been interviewing members of this vital voting-bloc, he said, and he was able to report that they would “like to leave Iraq but they'd really like to win Iraq” and are looking for “a party and leadership” that can lead the way to victory."

Criticism

Lebanese-American Political Scientist As'ad AbuKhalil has criticized Goldberg for publishing interviews with sources that are dead and who therefore cannot confirm or deny the stories that are attributed to them:

"You really have to read this piece of...journalism by Jeffrey Goldberg. He identifies himself thus: "a one-time Israeli Army prison official-turned-reporter." The joke is that he thinks of himself as a reporter." But read the whole thing and enjoy those revealing interviews with people who are now...dead. And there is a fundamental problem with logic: why are those people that he identifies as rabid anti-Semites confiding in him of all people, and revealing their innermost thoughts to him? I mean, Rayyan did not talk to the press and did not talk Arab journalists but for some reason he felt that Goldberg, having served in the Israeli terrorist army, is the right person to confide in, especially on Sunni-Shi`ite matters. Pretty convincing, don't you think? This reminds me of the imaginary interview that Christopher Hitchens had conducted with Abu Nidal."

War on Iraq

Ken Silverstein and several other analysts have criticized Goldberg for his poor reporting during the run-up to the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003:

"What's truly astonishing is that neither the New Yorker nor Goldberg have ever been held accountable for the egregious propaganda that was published prior to the invasion."

War on Iran

According to M.J. Rosenberg of 'Talking Points Memo,' Goldberg is expected to produce reports similar to those which he produced during the run-up to the US-led invasion of Iraq, on Iran:

"For several days, the Atlantic's Jeff Goldberg has been calling Stephen Walt, John Mearsheimer and other critics of Bibi Netanyahu "anti-Semites." Nothing new about that. For Goldberg, a major AIPAC neocon, all critics of Israeli policies are anti-Semites by definition. (See this good piece on Goldberg).

But why is he obsessing about Walt so much now?

It is because, in August, Goldberg is coming out with his big Atlantic piece calling on the United States to bomb Iran so that Israel does not have to."

Anti-Zionist Jews

Prominent Jewish-American journalist and blogger Philip Weiss has pointed out that Goldberg has refuted the Jewish identity of anti-Zionist Jews:

"Jeffrey Goldberg goes after the bloggers panel during the J Street conference and describes it as a group of "anti-Zionists with Jewish parents." Think about that. This is a statement of excommunication. He’s not saying anti-Zionist Jews. He’s saying we had Jewish parents. He’s not even calling us non-Jewish Jews, an insult that hurled by an old Israeli recently. This time we don’t get to be Jews. Thus he equates Jewishness with Zionism, entirely."