Watching Jamie Kirchik accuse Daniel Levy of being an anti-Israel conspiracy theorist is an impressive thing. I think, in the tribe, we call it chutzpah. But it's worth reading the whole five paragraph screed. Read it slowly. Take time to enjoy the scenery. Whistle appreciatively as Kirchik's argument builds, the innuendo stacks. And remember to have a camera out when you arrive at the final, stunning, vista, in which Kirchik places Daniel Levy in the tradition of the John Birch Society. Who knew The New Republic had begun publishing performance art? So the Kirch can't accuse me of ignoring the thin wad of tissue that passes for his argument, I followed his link over to Noah Pollak, whose "devastating" fact check of Levy appears to be the primary source from which Kirchik's inane ramblings emanate. Point One of Pollack's "fact check": Daniel Levy said, "the Mitchell Commission did not come out on the side of the argument that said, ‘the Palestinians were just waiting to for a moment to start a violent intifada.’" The Mitchell Commission, as Pollak notes, concluded, "we have no basis on which to conclude that there was a deliberate plan by the PA to initiate a campaign of violence." Pollak argues that the Mitchell Commission was constrained in their investigation, and while I don't buy it, it's a conceivable position. Kirchick's transmogrification of a perfectly accurate description of the Mitchell Commission's findings into a John Birch Society conspiracy theory is somewhat less so. But then, that's not the most interesting thing about it.
