Chemi Shalev at Haaretz blames Bibi for anti-Israel Democrats

Chemi Shalev isn't considered one of Haaretz's real far left nutcases like Amira Hass or Gideon Levy or Rogel Alpher. He is considered one of their best political analysts.

Which just goes to show how bad Haaretz is.

He writes:

The entire Omar brouhaha would have developed in a radically different direction if Israel was still perceived in America as a liberal democracy and if its leader was seen as doing his level best to secure peace, despite the objective obstacles. The anti-Israel faction would have gained little traction and the Democratic Party could have united in rejecting Omar's hostile stand. But an Israel increasingly seen as following Netanyahu into the darkness of racism and intolerance, an Israel that emulates Netanyahu’s uncritical embrace of Trump and his odious views, is an Israel that even mainstream Democrats will soon find hard to support.

Netanyahu’s preconceived and hostile view of American liberals and their American Jewish supporters turned out to be a self-fulfilling prophecy, which is now playing out before our very eyes. Rather than dismaying Netanyahu, it will embolden him further, which will only serve to widen the gap even more. 

The thing is that earlier in the article Shalev admits that Bibi isn't the main or even the secondary reason for the American Left taking on rabidly anti-Israel positions:

The new wave of young radicals in the Democratic Party, which includes Omar and her fellow female Muslim legislator Rashida Talib of Michigan, as well as Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez from New York, owe their election first and foremost to the ongoing political polarization in the U.S. and to the Democratic Party’s natural reaction to the excess and extremism of the Trump presidency. Just as widespread resentment of Obama sparked the rise of the Tea Party in 2010, outrage and animosity towards Trump spurred the emergence of a new and militant American left.

Netanyahu isn’t responsible for the centrality of Israel in the mindset of the radical left either. The view of Israel as a colonialist outpost that subjugates millions of indigenous Palestinians is ingrained in far left thinking: At one end it veers into anti-Semitism and on the other it constitutes no more than principled objection to the ongoing occupation.

So even though Shalev knows that both the polarization of the political parties in the US and the obsession over hating Israel on the Left have zero to do with Netanyahu, he still believes that the hate would be nothing - and Omar would have been censured by the House - had it not been for Bibi.

He gives very little evidence for this, mostly that Bibi has been praising Trump and was antipathetic to Obama. Shalev believes that Netanyahu is happy to ignore the feelings of most American Jews and he regards all of them who voted for Hillary Clinton to be the enemy.

Of course, there is no evidence for any of this. It is Bibi Derangement Syndrome that so many on the Israeli Left have.

What there is evidence for is the dates that the major anti-Israel organizations were founded and who was prime minister at the time:

Students for Justice in Palestine - 1993 - Yitzchak Rabin
Jewish Voice for Peace - September 1996 - Netanyahu was PM for less than 3 months
Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel - 2005 - Ariel Sharon
Israel Boycott Week - 2005 - Ariel Sharon
J-Street - 2007 - Ehud Olmert
IfNotNow - 2014 - Benjamin Netanyahu

Blaming Netanyahu for the emergence of an anti-Israel Left is shortsighted, and blaming Likud for it would be equally wrong. The far Left haters of Israel don't care about who is leading Israel, and they never have.

The real shortsightedness comes from people like Shalev who actually believe that Israeli policies have anything to do with the anti-Israel Left. It is no more true than saying that white nationalists would embrace Israel if it would only change its position towards Israeli Arabs whom they hate equally.

The anti-Israel Left doesn't take its cues from social justice. It takes its positions directly from the PFLP, PLO and Hezbollah. They aren't exactly nuanced in their stances.

Also, anyone who ever attended an anti-Israel rally in the US or Europe would know that the hate has nothing to do with Israeli policies.

The main organizers of the anti-AIPAC rally later this month, as in previous years, is Al Awda, which want to destroy Israel, period:

(h/t Irene)

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