The New York Times, Ethan Bronner, and Israel: Getting very, very desperate

“A senior Israeli official said on Thursday that the missile testing site near Tehran that was destroyed in a huge explosion three months ago was developing missiles with a range of some 6,000 miles aimed at the United States,” according to Ethan Bronner, reporting in yesterday’s New York Times. According to Bronner, the official further said “It [the non-existent missile] was aimed at America, not at us.”

Well, I’m guessing that Moshe Yaalon, an Israeli deputy prime minister and minister for strategic affairs, the senior Israeli official quoted by Mr. Bronner, did say that. The problem is, it’s total and complete bullshit.

Iran has no missile that can reach the U.S. It has no nuclear weapons. It is uncertain whether Iran even intends to develop nuclear weapons. If Iran had a missile that could hit the U.S. with a nuclear payload, it would never launch such a weapon, because if it did the U.S. would launch 500 in return. Mr. Yaalon, Mr. Bronner, and the New York Times all must think we are dumber than they are, which is very, very dumb indeed.

Afterwords
I previously commented on another dumb article by Mr. Bronner in the Times here. A few weeks earlier, Mr. Bronner wrote a not-so-dumb article, “Israelis Facing a Seismic Rift Over Role of Women,” describing the bitter controversies that have broken out as a result of the rise of ultra-Orthodox religious views among some Israeli Jews, demanding a treatment of women that smacks of Saudi Arabia. One can wonder if Mr. Bronner and the Times are now doing penance for embarrassing Israel in such a manner.