New York Times reporter Isabel Kershner sounded awfully petulant about an objectively wonderful event — the stunning, sophisticated rescue by the Israeli Defense Forces of four Israeli civilian hostages held in Gaza. Kershner not only cast a wet blanket over Israel’s joy, she even came up with reasons why the rescue was a non-event that would backfire: “Israel’s Euphoria Over Hostage Rescue May Be Fleeting.”
The paper’s front-page story Sunday, by other reporters, was bad enough. It appeared under the headline “Israel Rescues 4 Hostages in Assault That Killed Scores of Gazans.” But Kershner’s angle was even worse, foregrounding her Hamas-sympathetic position.
The audacious operation did little to resolve the many challenges facing Israel’s government.
For months, Israelis had heard only about hostages being killed or declared dead in…
