Although Norman Finkelstein's recent observation does not apply to people who are too stupid to grasp reality (e.g., people who cite the "ADL"), it does describe the current situation accurately:
American Jews have historically, at least for the past 80 years, been ideologically committed as liberal democrats. I go through all the evidence in the book – no point going through it now, but it’s clear. And I think that’s the factor that is most affecting American Jewish loyalties to Israel now. To put it simply:
Israel has become an embarrassment. Its whole way of conducting itself, not to mention the whole mindset of its leadership, is illiberal: in its foreign policy, complete contempt and disregard for international institutions; in its domestic policy now, serious inroads on the most fundamental liberal principle of equality under the law and the rule of law; and in its treatment of the Palestinians and its neighbours, egregious violations of human rights on a systematic and methodical basis.
When I was growing up, if you wanted to be critical of Israel’s human rights record you had to rely on what was called the ‘Israeli League for Human and Civil Rights’, which was led by Israel Shahak. Now Shahak was a terrific person, but it’s fair to say – no disrespect to him, he’s now passed away – that he was exceedingly eccentric. He always wanted to develop his own very individual take on things, which sometimes made him come across as kooky. But he was the only one really investigating Israel’s abuses, so you had to rely on him. Nowadays, you can rely on Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International, and everyone understands that. It’s very pleasing to see. I was speaking in Leeds, and they showed me a student article they wrote on political prisoners in Israel. And they cite Amnesty, they cite Human Rights Watch… everyone knows immediately that these are the sources to cite. Now, who can Israel cite, apart from its own press releases and Alan Dershowitz? Really, who can they cite? Well, that makes it very hard for a liberal American Jew to say, ‘oh well, I don’t believe any of the human rights organisations, I believe Israel’.
http://www.israeli-occupation.org/20...tine-conflict/
This notion that a right-wing, ethnocratic military garrison state is going to be "popular on campus" is too absurd for words. The propaganda war is over. The ADL lost.
Bookmarks