a devout Democrat, who has participated in two campaigns for seats in the Senate and the House, and is well on his way to becoming a leading figure on tomorrow’s Capitol Hill. Like Will, more and more Harvard students are criticizing Israel.
Wake up and smell the coffee! Dan offers a sharp analysis of the American generational shift, culminating with the assertion that Israel’s hamhanded propaganda efforts have successfully aligned the left with the pro-Palestinian community. True.
The Democratic Party’s old generation is still strongly committed to Israel’s well-being. The likes of House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, Bill and Hillary Clinton, and even President Obama are still as pro-Israel as they come. Next election’s candidates will also be no different – rising stars like New York’s charismatic governor, Andrew Cuomo, or Newark mayor Cory Booker have done everything but bake us Valentine’s Day cookies.
But if we scrape off these layers, as more and more old leaders are replaced by young ones, we find a bleak picture for Israel.Another friend who graduated last year with high honors for his work in the Department of Government asked me rhetorically, in reference to the Israeli government announcement to expand the E-1 settlements near Jerusalem, the day after the U.S. voted against Palestinian statehood in the UN, “do you really think it makes sense for us to give you weapons as you keep embarrassing us?”It is not so much the questions themselves that are worrying as their tone and the feeling of infuriation behind them. And sadly, our pathetic attempts at hasbara (public relations) have been failing…No, despite our efforts, things will get worse. As long as the criticism came from Europe or better yet – from one of the hostile third-world cartoonish dictatorships that comprise most of the international community, we could feel safe. But we have done a wonderful job at aligning the American left more closely with the rest of the world.…as much as it is convenient to blame it all on Netanyahu, what we see is a longer trend. The interest in Israel as a partner is diminishing as it becomes less clear how we are more than just a trouble-maker, and our presence in the West Bank is increasingly becoming more of an ideological problem for liberal Americans. It is not a coincidence that Hollywood – another liberal stronghold – has picked as Oscar nominees two films that are critical of the Palestinian problem.
The issue after all has nothing to do with any deep hatred toward Israel; but rather just a general fatigue with the delinquent child whose older brother is tired of having to protect him in the schoolyard.
If he is talking about the left, the disaffection is far more profound, and involves the fact that 1967 has blurred into 1948 in the rear-view mirror, and the whole project, of ethnic cleansing and Jewish nationhood, seems no liberal advance in society.
The generation gap is important. People in their 30s now don’t remember the 1960s.
Israel built YESHA on very shaky assumptions about the endurance of 60s hasbara.
Israel delinquent? Merely delinquent? Well, maybe. USA pols probably regard Palestinians as dark and Israelis as light (skinned, an ever-so-important way of deciding moral and legal questions in the good-ole-boy USA, even today), and thus regards Isrealis’ high crimes as mere mischief (at worst).
(Warning to USA pols: The Hispanics and Black voters may have other ideas about the meaning of skin color!)
The other operative thing is the psychological tendency (brought up on one of the blogs yesterday I think) to refuse to stand up and speak out with what a person believes to be a dissident voice — a tendency which prevents one from learning that [a] many/most of the neighbors had the same view you secretly held and [b] they were silent for the same reason you were, the desire not to rock the boat. A matter of politeness, if you like, with ENORMOUS political consequences, since it operates as a form of censorship. Some CHURCHES have begun to challenge this tendency, and BDS and various campus activity — and this blog — do so as well. So perhaps the “politeness” of speak-no-evil will die out and a realistic appraisal of Israeli behavior (and of american interests) will soon take place.
What’s Will’s last name? Coward. A Devout Harvard Democrat Indeed.
Haven’t we seen enough of “Ivy league lefties” to know they’re by definition, full of shit? “Will” will be a consultant for SDK Knickerbocker in a couple of years, and he’ll be laughing at his “righteous indignation” phase.
And pardon me for noticing that the real objections here are cosmetic – don’t embarrass “us” (“us” meaning the rulers, or potential future rulers of the U.S.). Hardly a moral argument. I also love this equation, stated as if it’s Law of Science: Harvard Student + Political Interest + “left” leanings = Future Democratic Leader. Haha. Shame shame on ALL of us for buying into this nonsense…..like my man Noam says:
“The whole educational and professional training system is a very elaborate filter, which just weeds out people who are too independent, and who think for themselves, and who don’t know how to be submissive, and so on — because they’re dysfunctional to the institutions.”
I think this claim diminishes Dan’s moral authority
the schoolyard line really jumped off the page, didn’t it? the article’s focus was on the israel/us relationship and what he described as “the damage to Israel’s interests.” before the schoolyard line one could imagine perhaps dan just wasn’t addressing the implications of what israel (and US) policy means to the lives of millions living under occupation for generations. sad.
“It is not a coincidence that Hollywood – another liberal stronghold – has picked as Oscar nominees two films that are critical of the Palestinian problem.”
Is it not strange, especially in this situation to use words like “the Palestinian problem”?
As if it is Palestinians that are the problem.
With all the history of the Jewish Question/problem that ended in the Final Solution, how can an Israeli Jew talk about victims of oppression like that?