Given the headline, "Understanding the Middle East Through the Animal Kingdom" is a thought experiment doomed from the start. But New York Times opinion columnist Thomas Friedman made the attempt anyway, and no editor cared enough to stop him.
New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman has a long record of bigoted comments about the Middle East. But he may have reached a new low with his piece Friday, titled “Understanding the Middle East Through the Animal Kingdom.”

Remarkably, its title is not exaggerated clickbait but an accurate summary of a column that describes various Middle Eastern countries as different kinds of insects. Written just a week after the International Court of Justice ruled assertions that a U.S.-backed genocide is transpiring in Gaza are “plausible,” this piece of writing deploys racist tropes that only further dehumanize the people of an entire region (where the U.S. is already far too close to getting entangled in yet another conflict). To add insult to injury, the column fails at its own goal of helping the reader understand the political dynamics of the Middle East.
https://defector.com/new-york-times-pays-thomas-friedman-to-compare-the-middle-east-to-bugs

https://www.msnbc.com/opinion/msnbc-opinion/thomas-friedman-animal-kingdom-nyt-rcna137283