A version of this tortured logic made an appearance in a Jan. 4, 2019 op-ed by Los Angeles Times<\/em> columnist Robin Abcarian titled<\/a> \u201cCan you admire Louis Farrakhan and still advance the cause of women? Maybe so. Life is full of contradictions,\u201d which acted as an apologia for the anti-Semitic dispositions of several leaders of the Women\u2019s March movement. Abcarian lamented that three of the Women\u2019s March founders praise of Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan despite<\/a><\/u> \u201chis abysmal record of anti-Semitism, homophobia, transphobia and sexism.\u201d<\/p>\n But the columnist insisted that the \u201cbigger picture\u201d demands that \u201ceveryone involved in the Women\u2019s March can take a bow,\u201d regardless of which leader said \u201cwhat to whom about Jewish people when, and the merits of a noted anti-Semite.\u201d Abcarian omitted and obfuscated on the anti-Semitic tendencies of several of the Women\u2019s March founders, which have been extensively documented by Tablet <\/em>magazine, among others\u2014and which go way beyond<\/a><\/u> the conference call praising Farrakhan that Abcarian highlighted.<\/p>\n Would a major U.S. news outlet be so casually dismissive of other prejudices? Doubtful. The LA Times<\/em> column is emblematic of a troubling trend: the media\u2019s unwillingness to treat anti-Semitism seriously.<\/p>\n On Dec. 13, 2018, The New York Times<\/em> interviewed<\/a><\/u> the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Color Purple<\/em> author Alice Walker. Walker has previously promoted anti-Semitic material, like the poem \u201cIt\u2019s Our (Frightful) Duty to Study the Talmud<\/a><\/u>,\u201d which advised readers to look to the ancient Jewish religious text in order to find the root and source of evil. She has frequently compared Israelis to Nazis, which meets the widely used International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) working definition<\/a><\/u> of anti-Semitism.<\/p>\n In that interview, Walker recommended a book by the Holocaust-denier David Icke who, as Tablet <\/em>magazine journalist Yair Rosenberg has noted<\/a><\/u>, peddles anti-Semitic conspiracy theories and, like some Women\u2019s March leaders, argues that Jews were responsible for the slave trade.<\/p>\n The Times<\/em> failed to challenge Walker\u2019s book recommendation, or to provide any information about either her or Icke\u2019s disturbing views. While noting that it was a \u201cmissed opportunity,\u201d the deputy Washington, D.C., editor of The New York Times <\/em>tweeted<\/a><\/u>: \u201cI don\u2019t blame The New York Times<\/em> interviewer for not knowing Alice Walker had recommended an anti-Semitic tract. Heck, I didn\u2019t know David Icke, and I wrote a book about rising bigotry.\u201d<\/p>\n The lack of self-awareness is unsurprising. As the Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting in America (CAMERA) documented, in September 2015 The New York Times <\/em>published<\/a><\/u> an online chart listing which members of Congress voted on the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, and whether or not they were Jewish\u2014invoking the anti-Semitic dual-loyalty canard.<\/p>\n It\u2019s not just Walker and Icke that are receiving free advertising from major U.S. news outlets. The Washington Post<\/em> has opened up its opinion pages to anti-Semites as well.<\/p>\n On Nov. 8 2018, The Post<\/em> published a piece by Mohammed Ali al-Houthi, the leader of an anti-American, Iranian-backed militia. The Houthi motto\u2014\u201cDeath to Israel, Curse the Jews\u201d\u2014is openly hateful and anti-Semitic.<\/p>\n The National<\/em>, a U.A.E-based publication, said<\/a><\/u> that Karen Attiah, The Washington Post\u2019s<\/em> global opinions editor, defended the paper\u2019s decision to publish the op-ed. Attiah claimed that her publication has \u201cgiven space to Saudis, Emiratis, Qataris, Turks, Iran \u2026 all sides of many of these debates roiling the region.\u201d The Post<\/em>, she claimed, had an obligation to publish all viewpoints\u2014including the \u201cabusive ones.\u201d Yet, if the Post<\/em> were to provide a platform to a member of the Ku Klux Klan, the paper would be condemned\u2014and rightly so. Somehow, a different standard exists when it comes to anti-Semitism emanating from certain quarters.<\/p>\n When they\u2019re not getting a press pass, anti-Semites are getting coddled. When the Post<\/em> interviewed Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad on Sept. 28, 2018, the newspaper failed to inform readers\u2014much less confront Mahathir himself\u2014about his blatant anti-Semitism.<\/p>\n In a 2003 speech before the Organization of the Islamic Conference, Mahathir said that \u201cJews rule the world by proxy. They got others to fight and die for them.\u201d In 2012, he wrote, \u201cI am proud to be labeled anti-Semitic.\u201d The interviewing journalist was well-aware of Mahathir\u2019s anti-Semitic nature, having written about it in a 2016 article<\/a><\/u>. But he said nothing when he was face to face with someone that the Post<\/em> called<\/a><\/u> a \u201cvenerable statesman.\u201d<\/p>\n The day before the prime minister\u2019s interview, another Post<\/em> journalist spoke with<\/a><\/u> Riyad Mansour, the Palestinian Authority\u2019s Permanent Observer to the United Nations. As CAMERA has documented<\/a><\/u>, Mansour\u2014once a guest on Comedy Central\u2019s \u201cThe Daily Show\u201d\u2014has claimed that the Jewish state harvests the organs of terrorists, which is a modern-day incarnation of the anti-Semitic blood libel<\/a><\/u>. But yet again, an anti-Semite\u2019s beliefs went unmentioned and unaddressed by the \u201cguardians of truth.\u201d<\/p>\n The late historian Robert Wistrich called anti-Semitism \u201cthe oldest hatred\u201d in the world. Its current purveyors should be called out by the press, not handed a microphone or whitewashed. It\u2019s not so complicated.<\/p>\n Sean Durns is a senior research analyst for CAMERA, the 65,000-member, Boston-based Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting in America.<\/em><\/p>\n![\"Share](\"https:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/buttons\/share-medium.png\")