Israel and the Enlightenment
I'm finally catching up with Norman Podhoretz's new book, Why Are Jews Liberal? It's a great read, as usual. It provokes in me, however, the obverse question here: Why are so many liberals so hostile to the state of Israel?
I'm no expert here. It does strike me, however, as it strikes Norman, that though Israel started as a progressive project, with its strong labor contingent and socialistic predilections of its founders, it is now mostly reviled by the Western left. And one wonders: is that not inevitable? Inevitable, because the very concept of a Jewish state, at least one that takes that serious, is fundamentally irreconcilable with the dominant Enlightenment view that these kind of distinctions must be washed away. If so, it suggests that no matter how "progressive" Israeli policies may be, so long as it holds to the idea that it has a Jewish identity, it is just something the Enlightenment cannot ever digest. I'm not talking about religiosity or theocracy, just the idea of identity. Just curious.
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May '10
Re: Israel and the Enlightenment
George Gilder's The Israel Test had maybe the best explanation: Liberals resent Israel because they believe (by definition) that economics is zero-sum and that therefore the Jews wealth is acquired at the expense of the poor. When seeing a thriving Israel adjacent to poor Arab countries, liberals cannot resist the temptation to perceive oppressor and victim, just as Obama and friends view the wealthy and poor here at home as oppressors and victims.
It may be no more complicated than simple Marxism.
Jun '10
Re: Israel and the Enlightenment
The racism + colonialism thesis explains this phenomenon as well. The left views Iraq through the prism of Vietnam: where most Americans saw the Communist North invading the free South, the left saw us as the new imperial power picking up where France left off. Remember during the debate about the surge how the Dems proposed dividing the country into three regions? This fits with the narrative that the British created artificial boundaries and installed a Sunni despotism, and we maintained it by supplying Saddam with arms and money during the Cold War. Thus we are ultimately responsible for all his attrocities. Finally, when he got a bit too uppity, the U.S. and Britian united to reassert their imperial authority directly. The insurgents in Iraq, like the NVA and the Palestinians, are cast as noble freedom fighters resisting Western colonial occupation.
Aug '10
Re: Israel and the Enlightenment
Hi Joseph,thanks for taking up my point.It is so refreshing to have an open forum for civilized debate on weighty matters,and they don't come any more weighty than Israel/Palestine.Why that is so is perhaps one of the great mysteries of our time, but we are where we are on that matter. That said, I must say I am not convinced that Vietnam is the root cause ,rather than a symptom, of the antipathy to the Western cultural/economic system that has, in truth, left the rest of the world either trailing behind or getting on board:current difficulties notwithstanding, the West will be richer than the rest in 10, 20, 100 years time. What drives our liberal friends around the bend is that Israel is the living proof that capitalism works best,that it could make the desert bloom! While the original ethos in Israel may have been somewhat socialist,and important as that may have been in moulding the nation, it is hard- nosed enterprise that has made it great.That is it's blessing. It's curse is to contradict so much that so many hold dear. That is why self-proclaimed but phoney liberals will forgive Islam it's most illiberal tenets. My enemy's enemy.....