If you took what he said but replaced "as an Israeli myself" with "I'm not Israeli", it would be racist. That's what annoys me. It might be different if race/ethnicity/religion were involved in the article.
PS-0 And don't get me started on how racist the jewish diaspora is, or Israelis, in general. Towards black, arabs, other jews etc. It's a stinking pile of self-hatred and racism.
PS-1 You can down vote as much as you want, it does not change the sad and ugly truth.