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Beyond Teiru

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Israel, peace, globalization, pluralism and other issues
discussed by New York Times columnist Tom Friedman.

PHIL JACOBS Contributing Editor

(7)

Washington
e's got a layer of thick skin.
That's what New York Times
foreign affairs columnist
Thomas L. Friedman, a two-
time Pulitzer Prize winner, has got to
show for almost 20 years of reporting
on national and international affairs.
But it's thick skin ...
He has angered many over the years,
especially those who felt his career as
the Times' erusalem bureau chief was
seemingly one-sided to the Palestinians.

H

There are readers who love him,
though. There are people who wish he
wouldn't write about oil and Mexico
and global economies, who want a full-
time dose of his Middle East analysis.
They are Jew, Christian, Arab. They
call themselves right or left wing.
Thomas Friedman can make them
mad. He can inform, or he can uplift.
But they all read him. They never stop
reading him.
Friedman, 45, is sitting in his Wash-
ington, D.C., office on a particularly

hot day. It's the kind of day where the
weather has nothing to do with Wash-
ington's temperature. President Clinton
has just been on TV to talk about his
appearance before Kenneth Starr's grand
jury. Friedman had to put together a
piece not knowing exactly what might
happen in the ensuing days. There was
talk of resignation, talk of impeach-
ment.
Not knowing what will happen? Try
covering the Middle East.
Friedman's office is off a quiet corri-

10/1(
1998

Detroit Jewish News

39

