Israel’s indifference to international law is destabilizing the Middle East, even establishment voices say. The head of the Center for American Progress, a Democratic Party thinktank, says Israel is not a democracy and peace will only be possible if Palestinians have equal rights.

Liberal Zionists rushed to affirm their support for Israel and hatred of anti-Zionism in the wake of Rep. Pramila Jayapal’s “racist state” comment because they are afraid the Israel lobby will abandon the Democratic party in 2024 and big donors will go over to the GOP or sit the campaign out.

The venom of the Israel lobby toward the Nakba is understandable. Acknowledging the Nakba doesn’t just undermine the “miracle” of Israel, but the state’s legitimacy in the eyes of idealistic Americans.

Steve Inskeep of NPR today described Neve Yaakov, the scene of an attack last week, as being in Israel. While Jeremy Ben-Ami of J Street called it a Jerusalem “neighborhood.” It is in fact an exclusively Jewish settlement in occupied Jerusalem, built on confiscated Palestinian lands, and a source of affliction for Palestinians.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken made it clear the Biden administration is no friend to even J Street’s moderate politics on Israel, let alone the broader struggle for Palestinian rights. 

J Street gave a shout out to Rep. Betty McCollum from the stage of its gala but didn’t invite her to speak, because she has called out Israeli “apartheid.” The liberal Zionist organization is terrified of the left’s political and discursive power. It throws us crumbs and hopes we don’t notice its messaging. Like when J Street CEO Jeremy Ben-Ami complained to labor leader Randi Weingarten that the left doesn’t notice “what is good and right” in Israel.

At the organization’s annual national conference, J Street CEO Jeremy Ben-Ami announced a major pivot in the group’s advocacy: for restricting U.S. aid to Israel over its human rights abuses. “Maybe it’s time for some serious oversight and accountability for how our aid to Israel is actually being used,” Jeremy Ben-Ami said, likening Palestine to Ukraine under Russian invasion. Ben-Ami also warned that leading Jewish organizations that enforce loyalty to Israel are threatening the health of the Jewish community by undermining a traditional Jewish commitment to civil rights.

Even liberal Zionists maintain a red line against Americans calling Israel an apartheid state. Jeremy Ben-Ami says the apartheid “label” will “distract” Israelis and keep them from doing the right thing. But Haaretz writers, desperate about the racism that prevails in their society, refer to apartheid in article after article.

Israel’s “untenable occupation just goes on and on” and has “parallels” to apartheid, Rep. Jared Huffman of California reports after a visit to the country. But he says he got in an argument with Rep. Brad Schneider, who said that Palestinian prime minister Mohammed Shtayyeh offended American congresspeople by using the word “apartheid” and said Huffman and others should have taken the prime minister “to task” for using the word. Huffman said almost every Palestinian he met shares Shtayyeh’s view.

Cracks in apartheid’s firewall: Seven establishment Jewish groups including the Anti-Defamation League sent a letter to Israeli prime minister Naftali Bennett saying Enough’s enough, take action against settler violence; it is “undermining Israel’s image and relations with the U.S. government.” I.e., we can’t do our job of selling Israel in the U.S. with this sort of publicity. The complaint is of a piece with liberal Zionist Jeremy Ben-Ami’s “rant” on twitter about a “horrific” week of violence against Palestinians. These organizations know that the Democratic base is getting sick of supporting Israel as it commits human rights violations.