Progressive Zionist Ralph Seliger, of Meretz, defends his defense of Joe Biden here. He quotes a JTA article saying that Biden has been critical of Israel:
the United States and Israel in their failure to support Mahmoud Abbas
in 2003, when he was the Palestinian Authority prime minister attempting to establish a power base to challenge then-President Yasser Arafat. …
"I've
had my shouting matches over 25 years, privately, in my office and in
the offices of prime ministers," Biden said in a March 2007 interview
with the Forward. "I've had disagreements. Israel's a democracy and
they make mistakes."
The lukewarm language Ralph cites reminds me of the party line that even
Dershowitz-style Zionists came up with a couple years ago: Israel is
not perfect. Well I'm sorry, I don't see the frontal assault on the settlements and the treatment of the Palestinians that I want. Ralph says I'm an anti-Israel blogger. It's true I am highly critical of Israel; I want the U.S. to change its relationship by 90 degrees and recognize the horrifying human rights abuses in Palestine. Ralph also says I'm working on a book that will attack progressive Zionists. I'm not sure what book I'm working on (though I've said I was working on some Jewish book, it's stalled; right now I'm writing a novel about WW2), but I know a lot of good progressive Zionists. I'm willing to disagree with them about Walt and Mearsheimer, the Israel-connection to the Iraq war, etc. But my litmus test is: Attack the occupation, smite it at hip and thigh, as Menachem Begin used to say. Biden's not smiting.
