Jodi Rudoren on Monday was appointed The New York Times Jerusalem Burea chief following the departure of Ethan Bronner.
Rudoren, was previously the Times education editor, has come under fire - especially from those following her Twitter account - for her seemingly anti-Israel stance and her adamant praise of Israel’s critics.
While Bronner was the subject of controversy due to his son’s military service in the Israel Defense Forces, he nonetheless “made it through his four-year tenure providing what most saw as balanced coverage,” says Adam Kredo of the Washington Free Beacon. Rudoren, he continued, “isn't even on the job yet and she's already drawing fire.”
Reffering to Peter Beinart’s upcoming book, The Crisis of Zionism, Rudoren tweeted, it’s “terrific: provocative, readable, full of reporting and reflection.” Beinart has been slammed by Israel advocates for his outwardly hostile views toward Israel.
“Already, Rudoren is beaming out cutesy missives to prominent, self-described anti-Zionist players such as Ali Abunimah, co-founder of Electronic Intifada, a website that contains a treasure trove of writings highly antagonistic toward the Jewish state," Kredo asserted.
Tablet Magazine’s Marc Tracy also weighed in saying that the fact that Rudoren has “‘heard good things’—of someone who advocates boycott, divestment, and sanctions of Israel and a one-state solution — is rightly making supporters of Israel suspicious of her objectivity and of where she stands…."
"Retweeting an article titled, Palestine: Love in the Time of Apartheid. Even tweeting praise for Peter Beinart’s forthcoming book suggests, at least, that she favors one narrative of the conflict over the others," he explained.
“[W]hen you have just been named the Times Jerusalem bureau chief, that may be a good time to hold off [from tweeting]: everyone on all sides is waiting to figure out where you stand and, having done so, to accuse you of being wrong; using Twitter to feint toward certain views — or even just to build a presence — is pretty much the worst thing you can do,” Tracy said.