Media frustration boils over in hit piece on Jewish billionaires

That Washington Post article about rich Jews “working to shape U.S. public opinion [about] the war in Gaza” smacks of anti-Semitism, as Bill says here. It also smacks of frustration.

Left-wing media organs like the Post and the New York Times have worked relentlessly to shape public opinion against Israel and in favor of the Israel-hating protesters at American colleges and universities. Nearly every day, they run stories critical of Israel, its prime minister, and its military. Nearly every report includes death count figures either without any attribution or without acknowledgement that their real source is Hamas.

These organs also treat the campus protesters, many of whom come from outside the campus, as social justice warriors — worthy successors to the allegedly heroic protesters of the 1960s. “Students denouncing oppression” is how the Times’ David Leonhardt describes these Israel-hating protesters.

But U.S. public opinion has not turned against Israel, even in the face of the mainstream media’s assault. Most Americans believe Israel has good reason to be fighting the war in Gaza. And a plurality (albeit by a narrow margin) say that Israel’s conduct of the war is acceptable.

As for the student protests, voters oppose them by a margin of 60-33. And while most voters have not been swayed one way or the other by the protests, nearly two-thirds of those who have been swayed are now less sympathetic than before to the Palestinian cause.

How to explain the media’s inability to move the needle against Israel to a more significant decree? It can’t be the fact that Hamas is a bloodthirsty terrorist outfit that deserves to be destroyed. It can’t be the fact that the student protests constitute an effort by a small number of anti-Semitic student bullies (bolstered by radical outsiders) to shut down college life in the interest of preventing the killing of terrorists.

No. The media’s failure must be down to a conspiracy of Jewish billionaires to influence public opinion. That’s the job of the left’s billionaires and their media organs. How dare rich Jews get in the way!

These are very frustrating times for left-wing billionaires and media outlets. As relentless as the anti-Israel coverage has been, it doesn’t compare to the years-long efforts to characterize Donald Trump as an “existential threat” to “our democracy.”

But despite these efforts, and maybe in part because of them, Trump remains ahead of Joe Biden in most polls. Even on the question of which of the two is the greater threat to democracy, opinion is split pretty much down the middle.

An AP-NORC poll found that 87 percent of Democrats and 54 percent of independents believe a second Trump term would negatively affect U.S. democracy. For Republicans, 82 percent believe democracy would be weakened by another Biden win, with 56 percent of independents agreeing.

Surely, results like these are beyond frustrating to the mainstream media. They must be horrifying.

But the media can’t blame this on the Jews.