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Are American Leftists (especially Barack Obama) anti-Israel?
I suppose this subject has been beaten to death but it still fascinates me. Why is it that the left tends to be unsympathetic toward Israel’s position? I would word it more strongly (why are so many leftists anti-Israel), except I don’t want to get hung up on the question of whether they are really that far out there. But as a practical matter I see little distinction, for I can’t fathom how anyone could be neutral in this conflict, or declare the opponents morally equivalent without a visceral anti-Israel bias. Hamas (and so many other groups) are committed to the extermination of the Jewish state.
There is no question that Bibi Netanyahu was not exaggerating when he said, “If the Arabs lay down their arms there will be no more war, but if Israel lays down its weapons there would be no more Israel.” Israel consistently acts with restraint, warning civilians of its imminent attacks and providing humanitarian aid. It targets tunnels and weapons, not civilians. Hamas, the opposite. In light of these FACTS, how can any objective person believe there is moral equivalence here? Other than their reflexive wrongheadedness on most issues, how can even leftists be so openly off-base on this? I do believe Obama has a deep, abiding affection for Islam based on statements in his books, and his speeches and policies since in office.
As a result I believe he identifies with them on some level and genuinely believes if he treats Muslims as victims they will be more peaceful. It’s all mind-blowing to me. Bottom line: I believe leftists in general are unduly sympathetic to Hamas (and/or the Palestinians) and Obama shares that as a leftist, but is even more so because of his background. Leftists and some others object to this characterization — just like they deny many of their firmly held positions — and Obama does have some cover because he pays lip service to supporting Israel and does support them in some ways. But he surrounds himself with people who are definitely pro-Palestinian and make no secret of it, does he not? He lets them chide Israel, from Hillary Clinton, to John Kerry, to Philip Gordon. Am I unfair to believe Obama, in his heart of hearts, is anti-Israel?
Published in General
What about so-called secular Jews, who supposedly don’t identify with their faith that much, but do have a loyalty to their ethnicity. Wouldn’t you think that on that basis alone, they’d support — or at least be sympathetic to — Israel? Or, further generalizing, is it an inescapable phenomenon that many secular Jews end up adopting liberalism as their “religion” and so lack sympathy for Israel as a direct result of their liberalism? By the way, I’m not making these categorical judgments; I’m repeating things I’ve heard from politically conservative and religiously observant, Jewish friends of mine.
His daughters were all bat mitzvahed and the family attends synagogue regularly and observes Passover, Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. I failed to mention that the family lives in Western Europe; that has obviously had a political effect as well.
I wonder if, at least for the American Left, the instinctive anti-Israel response isn’t somewhat tied to the fact that many Evangelicals are very pro-Israel and attach great religious significance to Israel’s existence. Essentially, “If those rubes are for it, I’m against it.”
The fact that many Jews are so anti-Israel is a great psychological puzzle to me. Why would they think, for one nano-second, that appeasing either the Gaza or West Bank Arab’s would lead to any kind of peace and happiness? The Palestinian leadership (and the constituents who voted for them) couldn’t be more clear in their desire to eliminate them entirely. You cannot appease that.
Israel needs to stop talking to them (or anyone else, for that matter) and get the job done.
Bingo! That is exactly why my venture capitalist friend did not vote for one of his own- Mitt Romney. They are afraid and disdainful of the “Religious Right.”
I don’t want to get into an argument about this because I don’t feel threatened by religious people. My father is an active elder in the Presbyterian church and my family lives (and works!) a life influenced by Judeo-Protestant values.
With that said, we all need to get a bit more savvy about the success MSM and academia have enjoyed in demonizing Evangelicals. I’m far too practical to refrain from warning y’all that you need to pipe down, vote for the right candidate for fiscal reasons, and take it from there.
Yes, liberalism is their religion.
As I previously noted, the secular (not just secular people of Jewish background) often feel a compulsion to prove their moral superiority over the religious (at least over those religious whose religions have apparent morality). By taking an anti-Israel view, the secular Jew gets at least a two-fer: 1) he achieves moral superiority over the religious Jew; and 2) by not siding with his tribe, he achieves moral superiority over those of any tribe who would side with their tribe.
What’s interesting about this 2008 poll data, is that on the secular-reform-conservative-orthodox spectrum, there was practically no difference amongst the first three.
The other thing is that this data is utterly inconsistent with other polls that had such a high Jewish vote for Obama that the number of orthodox would have had to be negative.
I agree that’s what the left believes, and I think that was your point, but I want to clarify that Israel declared its own independence and then fought of the Arab nations that immediately tried to destroy it. President Truman, to his everlasting credit, recognized Israel diplomatically something like 15 minutes after their official declaration of independence. That act and the dropping of the nuclear bombs are two of his best decisions as president, in my opinion. And he recognized Israel over the objections of the State Department, it is important to remember. Yes, Israel benefited from American help, but it’s not accurate to say that the West created Israel, at least I don’t think so.
Understanding the Leftist thought-process for determining the justice or injustice of a particular actor depends on understanding how the Left understands the following concepts:
The group an individual is part of is more important than the individual himself. For the Left the basic political unit is the group.
Groups that you can only be born into (e.g., ethnic groups, the sex you were born as, etc.) are more important that groups or associations you can voluntarily join. Usually the group is the basis for some sort of identity politics (which is usually ethnic politics but includes, say, labor unions, or which sex you are or your sexual inclination.) Nationality is a group that is lower in the hierarchy of groups with respect to ethnic groups. To the Leftists there is a dichotomy of groups and individuals.
If everybody is equal then everybody should have equal outcomes. If outcomes of effort for different groups or individuals are not the same then this could only have occurred because some kind of oppression prevented equal outcomes. Consequently, being more successful that average is tantamount to proof of “being unfair”. The Left cannot accept that dysfunctional cultural practices can cause poor outcomes because of multiculturalism’s imperatives that no culture is better than any other.
The division of groups into oppressor groups and oppressed groups. (Pay attention: this is where the leftist magical-thinking happens.) Because the Left views everything in terms of groups, it assumes that a successful group is an oppressor group. This means that every attack made by an oppressed group on an oppressor group is automatically “justified” just because it was made by the oppressed group. Consequently, the oppressed group get a pass on everything it does. Because of this, the Left always defends the oppressed group’s actions without regard for whether these actions are defensible. Because of this, the Left always attacks the oppressor group’s actions without regard for whether these actions were defensible. Because of this, if both oppressor group and oppressed group each do the same thing then the Left will only criticize the oppressor group’s action.
After you understand these Leftist ways of reasoning then you can understand why the Left reflexively supports the “oppressed Hamas” against the “Israeli oppressor.”
So, to answer David’s question: Leftist imperatives compel Obama, Kerry, et al, to be anti-Israel.
I disagree. You are making the classic mistake of confusing an enemy’s tactic for its philosophy.
People, especially those in more advanced societies, think and act as individuals. The tactic of articulating group rights results from individuals seeking to advance their own positions.
In the US, the white anglo leftist argues group rights for non-whites and non-anglos to individually achieve advantage over other white anglos. Consider race. The US white anglo argues US black anglos should think of them as blacks first because he can use that to achieve advantage over other US white anglos.
South of the border, he argues that persons of all races should identify as latinos because that will best leverage him relative to other US white anglos. It does that US white anglo no good if Cuba’s blacks see themselves as blacks being oppressed by Cuba’s largely white communists.
The “leaders” of those groups go along because it advances their individual interest, often at the expense of the group.
FYI Foyle’s War fans: “Currently, as of June 2014, Foyles War is no longer available on Netflix streaming. I called Netflix and they said they are renegotiating the license.”
However it does appear to be on Amazon Prime.
This seems like an explanation for why the Right is so reflexively pro-Israel; not why the Left has turned anti (after decades, mind you, of being pro).
The Jews that are critical of Israel or of Zionism are generally pretty articulate about why.
You think that maybe his Muslim upbringing has anything to do with it?
Leftists are against any nation, state, group or individual that can stand on their own. One’s ability to self support and defend itself means it doesn’t need the collective and rejects another’s centralizing power. Stalin versus Hitler, i.e. World Socialism versus National Socialism can’t even be tolerated. If you read about the Spanish Civil war, this is the really the unspoken complaint of the anti-Nazi Left–“They won’t join with us.”
It’s not some much Obama and the Left are pro-Palestinian, it’s that the socialists are ant-independence .. for anyone.
This seems like an explanation for why the Right is so reflexively pro-Israel; not why the Left has turned anti (after decades, mind you, of being pro).
A lie from the pit of hell. The Left has spent decades re-engineering history and poisoning academia and culture via Said, Zinn and BDS. All of which is now bearing (rotten) fruit. The victory is hollow and only works with disordered minds… but I will concede that disorder currently prevails in the West.