The Left hates Israel. A terrible generalization. But there has been a persistent tendency toward loathing and suspicion of the state of Israel among members and supporters of socialist-aligned parties in the democratic West since at least the 1970s–and that’s a mouthful. So, for short, what I said.
Now, if we ask Leftists why they have such a problem with Israel, most of them will assure us that it’s not about the Jews. In a previous post (Ite-Ish) I have suggested that, if we think it through, this claim doesn’t actually hold much water. Nonetheless, for the moment, let’s take it at face value. The Left hates Israel; but not, we are told, as an expression of anti-Semitism. Ok—why, then?
It will not do to answer “because of what Israel is doing in Gaza” because Leftists hated Israel long before a single IDF soldier set foot there.
It will not do to answer “because of the West Bank settlements” because Leftists hated Israel long before the settler movement.
It will not do to answer “because Israel won’t negotiate” because it will, and we know this because it has, having made peace de facto or de jure not only with the Arab states that made war on it relentlessly from 1948 until 1973, but even then with the terrorist PLO that took up where they left off—only to face more and worse heads of the hydra (Islamic Jihad, Hizbollah, Hamas), which many Western leftists defend and approve, quietly or openly, as we have seen, to their eternal shame and indeed the shame of all of us who are their compatriots, since October 7th, 2023.
So—again—why do Leftists hate Israel? If, as they tell us, it’s not about the Jews?
Other than being Jewish, Israel is:
- an outpost and beacon of Western modernity.
- prosperous.
- strong (militarily and otherwise).
- successful.
- democratic.
- free (civically, economically, politically).
What is there to hate here?
For the Left, evidently, plenty.
As for me, I hate that.
Libber leeber 