Isabel Kershner

Isabel Kershner is a senior editor at the Jerusalem Report and the New York times. She was born in Manchester (England), she migrated to Israel; she is married to Hirsh Goodman. Philip Weiss noted that she adamantly refused to reveal whether she was an Israeli citizen.

Apparent Conflict of Interest
For objectivity’s sake or to avoid an appearance of conflict of interest, The New York Times observed an unwritten rule not to appoint Jewish journalists to cover Israel and its neighboring countries. This policy was reversed by Abraham “Abe” Rosenthal when he was appointed managing editor of the NYT in 1969. Under Rosenthal’s editorship, most of the NYT correspondents covering Israel were Jewish, and in the case of Isabel Kershner and Ethan Bronner, any attempt to avoid conflicts of interest were simply dispensed with. First, both correspondents appeared as featured speakers in the Israel Hasbara Committee. There are many questions about Bronner, but similarly Kershner refuses to acknowledge whether or not she is an Israeli citizen, and her husband, Hirsh Goodman, works for a hawkish right-wing think tank and pushes a hard-line stance on Israeli policy matters. There are many articles detailing Kershner’s evident bias , yet this is no bar for her to remain as a NYT correspondent covering Israel/Palestinians and the Middle East.