Al Jazeera’s Inside Story program recently hosted Ali Abunimah, John Mearsheimer, and Meagan Buren of the Israel Project. As usual, Abunimah spoke clearly without euphemism. For instance: “Because of the intransigence of the lobby, there will be no two-state solution and that really means the end of a Jewish state of Israel.”
To her credit, Buren bravely resisted the rhetorical onslaught, retaining her composure long enough to regurgitate AIPAC’s (and Clinton’s, and Schumer’s) talking points: “trust measures… ten-month moratorium… peace… come to the table… Palestinian partner… prosperous future for both sides…etc.”
The real star of the show however, was Mearsheimer. One of the frustrating features of the conversation on Palestine/Israel is that many sober minded analysts hedge their criticisms of Zionism carefully. We’re told that the window of opportunity for implementing the two-state solution is closing, when in fact it has closed. Furthermore, Israel is on its way to becoming an apartheid state. Or, as President Carter incorrectly insisted, Israel is only an apartheid state in the West Bank and Gaza. Mearsheimer discards the willful self-deception; Israel is not becoming an apartheid state, Israel is an apartheid state.
Mearsheimer: “We have a special relationship with an apartheid state… more and more Americans are going to want to change that relationship; it goes against core American values.”
