The criticisms of Avnery are vituperative and borderline psychotic. One article berates him and puts him in company of other closet Zionists like Chomsky and Jimmy Carter. Ilan Pappe weighs in with his own special brand of Jew-hatred. One guy puts his criticism in terms of his Communist leanings, blabbering about a class struggle in Israel. Another tries to psychoanalyze Avnery for why he would possibly consider Israel legitimate in any way, shape or form. Even within Avnery's own "Gush Shalom" organization there are many who disagree with the idea of Israel existing.
In many ways, the Left mimics the Arab world in that if one advances an argument that is not on the extremist fringe extreme, he gets slammed as a traitor to the cause. You can almost see the pain as people who admire Avnery are so upset that he doesn't beat his head against the furthermost left wall along with the crowd. And, as in the Arab world, as long as the nutty fringe is accepted as mainstream, there is no hope for real progress from these "progressives."
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