Isi Leibler, chair of the Diaspora-Israel Relations Committee of the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs (JCPA), writes:
In view of the fact that demonstrating hatred of Israel has become a key prerequisite for eligibility to membership of the “progressive” camp, one finds Jews at the forefront of the vicious campaigns demonizing Israel in virtually every country.
Yet to accuse these renegades of indulging in self-hatred is considered as a cardinal sin in many circles. It is thus legitimate for Jews to defame Israel as an “apartheid state,” accuse their kinsmen of behaving like Nazis, apply double-standards to Israeli behavior, accuse Israel of ethnic cleansing, war crimes, even genocide; it’s even acceptable to call for dismantling Israel and replacing it with a binational state, or to support the “right of return” for Arab refugees – all in the name of communal tolerance.
Yet to stand up and brand such views as extremist is deemed an expression of “Zionist McCarthyism.”
It is a pathetic reflection of our times that people such as Tony Judt, Marc Ellis, Norman Finkelstein, Jacqueline Rose and Tony Kushner are considered martyrs, and tolerance of their malicious efforts to delegitimize the Jewish state has become confused with freedom of expression.
What a red herring. Insisting that Jewish demonizers of Israel comprise an extremist fringe and speak only for themselves does not represent suppression of free speech. — Jews against Zion (Jerusalem Post)
Although there have always been anti-Zionist Jews, the present circumstance of so many high-profile Jewish intellectuals giving more than just aid and comfort to those who not only want there to not be a Jewish state, but who also wish to kill the Jews, is unprecedented.
It’s interesting that at the same time that this is happening, many pro-Israel Jews are moving in a different direction than before, toward the Christian Zionists, as exemplified by Dr. John Hagee:
Dr. Hagee has been to Israel 22 times and has met with every Israeli Prime Minister since Menachem Begin. John Hagee Ministries has given more than $8.5 million to bring Soviet Jews from the former Soviet Union to Israel. Dr. Hagee is also the Founder and Executive Director of “A NIGHT TO HONOR ISRAEL†an event which expresses solidarity between Christians and Jews on behalf of Jerusalem, the State of Israel and the United States.
Dr. Hagee recently spoke to AIPAC, where he received a great deal of applause (videos of Hagee and others speaking at AIPAC here). The conservative politics and evangelical, proselytizing religion of the Christian Zionists are just about as far from what I would have expected Jews to applaud as anything. But then, who would have expected Jacqueline Rose?