Is It the GOP’s Fault Leftists Are Abandoning Israel?
(NewsRealBlog) -- by Sammy Levine --
There are times when those on the Left arise to defend Israel and end up proving, ironically, that American liberalism’s break with the Jewish state is real and dramatic.
Jeffrey Goldberg’s recent article defending Israel’s “special relationship” with the U.S. is one such example. He correctly identifies “liberals” as the demographic that is abandoning Israel, but thinks they have legitimate grievances against the Jewish state. In addition, he wrongly blames the growing partisan divide with regards to Israel on a ploy by Netanyahu and the Republicans. The fact that Republican pro-Israel pronouncements are enough to make leftists feel squeamish about sharing the pro-Israel space tells you all you need to know about the depth–or lack thereof–of the Left’s commitment to Israel.
Goldberg writes:
“It is true that Israel’s many friends on Capitol Hill, and many leading figures in the Democratic Party, would work tirelessly to protect Israel’s relationship with America in case of a collision between the U.S. president and the Israeli prime minister, but it is also true that Israel may one day soon find itself with fewer friends in America — in particular on the coasts and among the elites — than it previously had. Already, the Netanyahu government seems to have acquiesced to a Republican scheme to turn support for Israel in America into a partisan issue, which has obvious dangers for Israel. Particularly among liberals, Israel’s reputation is waning dramatically, and the Arab Spring will only accelerate this trend.”
When Goldberg refers to those “on the coasts” and “among the elites,” he clearly means liberals. Further down he simply states it outright, that support for Israel is “waning” among “liberals.” Goldberg touches on the elephant in the room that liberal Jews will simply not acknowledge.
According to Commentary magazine:
Remarkably, only 39 percent of Democrats agree that Israel’s enemies are our enemies, while 70 percent of Republicans and 48 percent of independents do. A plurality (42 percent) of Democrats do let on that Obama’s approach in criticizing Israel but not the Palestinians is objectionable, but that figure once again is far lower than it is for Republicans (68 percent) and independents (57 percent). Should Jerusalem remain Israel’s undivided capital? Sixty-three percent of Republicans agree, but only a plurality of Democrats (42 percent) do. Who’s responsible for the Israeli-Palestinian conflict? Seventy-three percent of Republicans and 57 percent of independents say it is the Palestinians fault; only 46 percent of Democrats agree.Goldberg is accurate that there are many Democratic leaders who firmly support Israel, including Steny Hoyer, Henry Waxman and Howard Berman. However, support for Israel is still much stronger among Republican representatives...
Later on, Goldberg makes it seem as though leftists who are growing tired of Israel have legitimate reasons:
The West Bank has been occupied now for 44 years. It is increasingly difficult to argue that the occupation is impermanent. I believe Americans still have a benevolent understanding of Israel — that it is a plucky democratic outpost and a haven for an oppressed people in an inhospitable part of the world. This perception, to my mind, is not wrong. But this interpretation of Israel dissipates with each year of occupation. Israel is popular in America in part because Americans believe, to borrow the most famous cliché in Middle East policymaking, that the Palestinians have never missed an opportunity to miss an opportunity. But more and more — and I hear this every week now — Americans, in particular those who pay attention to these things, believe that it is Israel that is missing opportunities to reach a compromise with the Palestinians. If, over time, Israel becomes unrecognizable to Americans, it will lose.Here Goldberg is making excuses for those leftists who do not support Israel. If Americans sincerely feel the way Goldberg describes, that Israel is “missing opportunities to reach a compromise with the Palestinians,” then they are not clear thinkers...MORE...LINK
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Chris Moore comments:
Oh, Americans are "clear thinkers" on this issue alright, Levine. But unlike you and your goy partners in crime, the majority of Americans aren't Judeofascists, Israel-firsters or ideologically Zionist, warmongering psychopaths and racists.
The Judeofascist and Zionist House of Hegemony is burning and crashing fast, and the lot of them are thankfully in a fatal-embrace, death-spiral on their way straight into hell.
The Zionist era in America will soon be over, and all that will be left is to hunt down and try its criminal perpetrators for treason.
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