Before 1967, Israel had the overwhelming support of world
opinion. So long as Israel's existence was in harmony with
politically correct assumptions, it was supported, or at least
accepted, by the majority of "progressive" Jews, especially in the
wake of the Holocaust. This is no longer the case. "The Jewish
Divide Over Israel" explains the role played by prominent Jews in
turning Israel into an isolated pariah nation.
After their catastrophic defeat in 1967, Arabs overcame
inferiority on the battlefield with superiority in the war of
ideas. Their propaganda stopped trumpeting their desire to
eradicate Israel. Instead, in a calculated appeal to liberals and
radicals, they redefined their war of aggression against the Jews
as a struggle for the liberation of Palestinian Arabs. The tenacity
of Arabs' rejection of Israel and their relentless campaign--in
schools, universities, churches, professional organizations, and,
above all, the news media--to destroy Israel's moral image had the
desired impact. Many Jewish liberals became desperate to escape
from the shadow of Israel's alleged misdeeds and found a way to do
so by joining other members of the left in blaming Israeli sins for
Arab violence. Today, Jewish liberals rationalize violence against
the innocent as resistance to the oppressor, excuse Arab extremism
as the frustration of a wronged party, and redefine eliminationist
rhetoric and physical assaults on Jews as "criticism of Israeli
policy." Israel's Jewish accusers have played a crucial and
disproportionate role in the current upsurge of antisemitism
precisely because they speak as Jews.
The essays in this book seek to understand and throw back the
assault on Israel led by such Jewish liberals and radicals as Tony
Judt, Noam Chomsky, George Steiner, Daniel Boyarin, Marc Ellis,
Israel Shahak, and many others. Its writers demonstrate that the
foundation of the state of Israel, far from being the primal sin
alleged by its accusers, was one of the few redeeming events in a
century of blood and shame.
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