On a day of immense tragedy in Israel, when ten of her best and brightest youths were killed in a flash flood, Haaretz' Alpher was complaining that there was too much television coverage of the event, saying that it was not a national disaster.
Alpher is complaining that Israeli TV was spending so much time on the drowning deaths of ten students because of ratings.
This is one case where I am thankful for Haaretz' paywall, because I can't see what other bile Alpher is writing in this article. Perhaps he was upset that his favorite European football club wasn't being properly covered by Israeli TV, or he wanted to more closely follow the news about the name of the new royal baby, which has dominated UK headlines for three days now.
The irony is that the only reason I can think that Haaretz keeps Alpher is because his writings are designed to create controversy - and therefore attention - for a newspaper who has long ago sunk into irrelevance in Israel, even as the world's antisemites continue to embrace it as their main source of evidence of Israeli evil.
Alpher need not be concerned about one thing. When he finally leaves this world, Israeli TV won't spend more than a few seconds noting his passing.
(h/t Yoel)