It has theological overtones with the American evangelical community, moral expectations from progressives about the rights of Palestinians and the interest of an active American Jewish diaspora. It is no longer one captured by secular slogans of shared values or pursuit of peace. The U.S.-Israel relationship is unique, multifaceted and evolving. Some day he and other liberal Zionists will have to concede that, too. He won’t or can’t recognize that Palestinians must be central players in their own liberation. Wexler says he’s met with Palestinians, but he nowhere quotes the skepticism that most of them share. This just isn’t good enough. Israel has decades of experience in pretending to move toward a two-state solution, while instead consolidating the occupation and strengthening the system of apartheid.
should adopt the liberal Zionist view and continue trusting and supporting the Israeli government. In this framing (Johnson goes on), we are the civilized people who can work with the present “civilized” Israeli government in gradually nudging Israel towards treating Palestinians almost as though they had rights. Why don’t we have those categories for Israelis? Are Palestinians ever justified in using force to defend themselves? Are there any guilty Israelis deserving of a military response?
So Hamas isn’t responding- no, they are attacking, and Palestinians can be divided into categories of innocent civilians and guilty attackers. Hamas attacks Israel defends itself and also hits innocent civilians. Notice the framing, it is a trap (says Donald Johnson who pointed this passage out). The system is defensive it protects countless numbers of innocent Israelis from Hamas rocket attacks and saves numerous innocent Palestinians by avoiding even more punishing Israeli military responses to those attacks. have killed civilians.” And he offers this twisted logic about why Israel kills “innocent Palestinians” in Gaza. Wexler goes on to admit that Israeli “raids against Hamas. Yes - Israeli snipers have killed 40 protesters there in recent months, to the point that the army chief told them to “relax.” Here is increasingly vocal criticism of expanding settlements in the West Bank, housing demolitions and civilian deaths. Three times he refers to killings of civilians. economy in dozens of states and integral in ensuring the United States commands the new frontiers of security in cyberspace”).īut the best thing about the article is that Wexler admits that Israel commits human rights abuses. and Israel in religious, economic and strategic terms (“a relationship deeply meshed into the U.S. He exalts the special relationship between the U.S. He congratulates the new Israeli government for taking steps toward supposedly easing life for Palestinians under occupation. Daniel Abraham Center for Middle East Peace, and his piece is typical of arguments by the more liberal wing of the Israel lobby. aid should not go toward perpetuating a 54-year-long occupation. Andy Levin legislation that says vaguely that U.S. J Street, Americans for Peace Now and other kindred groups are backing the Rep. Wexler’s answer to that simmering leftwing agenda of “Palestinian rights” is.to double down on the two-state solution. Whereas previous congressional debates were characterized by bipartisan, reflexive support for Israel’s security interests, progressives have successfully infused Palestinian rights into the equation. Indeed, a small group of progressive Democrats have now forced a simmering debate within the party, and in their constituency, to the surface.įor a number of years now progressive activists, and some politicians, have challenged what was once orthodoxy: resolute U.S. He debate over the Iron Dome system represents a tectonic shift in the discourse among Democrats, one that is likely to shape U.S.-Israel relations for decades. political debate over Israel/Palestine is veering left, and progressives are bringing an end to “unflinching support for Israel.” In today’s New York Times, Robert Wexler, a longtime Israel advocate and former Florida Congressman, says what our site has been saying for a while - the U.S.
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