JTA: The Global News Service of the Jewish People

JTA’s GA panel gets spicy

By Ami Eden · November 12, 2009

And you thought Bibi's or Rahm Emanuel's appearances were the main events at the GA.

You should have attended Tuesday morning's JTA-organized panel session at the GA titled "Pro-Israel Lobby and the Media."

Our own Ron Kampeas moderated, with Joe Klein of Time, Jamie Kirchik of The New Republic, Ori Nir of Americans for Peace Now, and Jennifer Laszlo Mizrahi of The Israel Project serving as panelists.

Things were tense between Klein and Kirchik throughout most of the discussion -- and then exploded afterwards.

One of the blogs at The Washingtion Post has the story:

Now that's  a panel discussion! A debate between Time's Joe Klein and New Republic's Jamie Kirchick spilled off the dais Tuesday into a hallway confrontation where Klein called the younger pundit a "dishonest [expletive]" and "[expletiving] propagandist."

Klein told us Wednesday that he's not sure he uttered the "propagandist" bit -- reported by a few witnesses -- but stands by the "dishonest" part.

"Absolutely. He's a [expletive]," said Klein, 62. "He's 25 years old, and he's one of those people who has opinions but no facts or experience."

Things started tense at the early a.m. "Pro-Israel Lobby and the Media" workshop at the Jewish Federations of North America's General Assembly. The two had clashed before: In an April blog post, Klein called Kirchick's critique of President Obama's diplomacy "overwhelmingly limited"; in a May op-ed, Kirchick called Klein a "juvenile bully" for his criticism of neocons.

Read the full story.