BLANKET JUDGMENT

NOVANEWS
Steve Walt says that I was wrong in my characterization of the news that Harvard’s Weatherhead Center scheduled an Israeli consul general as a speaker. I said the invitation reflects the fact that Weatherhead houses Martin Kramer, the neocon sandbox blogger. Walt:
I think you went a bit over the top on the story about Nadav Tamir (the Israeli consul general here in Boston) speaking at Harvard. Unless I’m mistaken, he appeared at the regular Middle East seminar at the Weatherhead Center, which is run by Herb Kelman, Sara Roy, and Lenore Martin, all very reasonable people.
They bring a wide array of people in, including (last year) Avi Shlaim and Nir Rosen. Second, Tamir himself is not a bad guy (remember he’s the one who got in hot water for saying the Israeli policies were causing problems with diaspora relations and nearly got canned for it).
As you know, Harvard’s a big place and there’s not much central control. Even Weatherhead is kind of a big umbrella organization where the parts have lots of autonomy. Happy to serve as your fact-checker whenever you want to take swing at your alma mater (which sometimes deserves it….as you well know).