Thomas Friedman has again caused outrage over a misconceived analogy in a blog post in the New York Times in which he compared the Middle East to the “animal kingdom” and “jungle”, drawing accusations of racism and Orientalism. The short blog post, published on February 2, addressed the ongoing Israeli genocide in Gaza and US-Iran tensions. Friedman, a NYT columnist who has regularly upset Middle East natives and experts for decades due to his often superficial takes on the region and justifications of US and Israeli war crimes, compared key players in the region to insects or animals, while t…