Why do so many on the DailyKos continuously attack Israel? Why is there no balance in the presentation of issues? What the hell has happened here?
15 June Edit In the last two days we've had even more anti-Israel diaries. It keeps coming. No balance. Funny, 63 people were killed by a suicide bomber in Sri Lanka, not a word on that. And none of the critics of this diary will touch the questions I've asked. Not a single one.
14 June Edit I posted this diary as I was disgusted by how many, not all, writers on DailyKos attack Israel while at the same time applying far different standards to Israel's enemies. I'd thought that people had read the Diaries that discuss Israel - apparently that's asking a bit much.
What am I seeing? Ad hominen attacks. People crying "bullshit", "you're a Republican", "fascist", etc. while at the same time refusing to attack my primary critique. Why won't people answer that question?
I support progressive politics. I support gay rights, oppose globalization, hope that unions will be reinvigorated. I've voted democrat every election that I could, write my congressmen, and live in one of the most liberal towns in the US. I'm an Israeli citizen, I served in the IDF, and I am proud to be Israeli-American. And I am disgusted by the daily vicious attacks on Israel that we see on this site.
I am saddened and amazed to see how the "left-wing blogosphere" falls completely for so much anti-Israel propaganda. I am stunned at how so many Kossacks daily argue that Israel is fundamentally evil, that Israel must abandon its defenses, and that Israel takes glee at the death of its enemies.
Israel has its flaws. Fighting a long, desperate and bitter battle against an implacable enemy has cost the country dearly. Our hopes for peace evaporate into a dismal, continuous war. People have grown bitter attempting to make peace with an enemy that categorically wants no peace. Terrible mistakes are made when military force must be used.
Yet in Israel the rule of law continues. Democracy continues. Women's rights, gay rights, advance. Arab citizens can vote in open elections. The Environmental agenda grows in strength. Israeli's do not advocate - as many Palestinians do - the annihilation of their enemies. Israelis essentially want peace with security.
For all of you who angrily decry Israel and cheer Hamas and Islamic Jihad, I must ask:
Why do you fail to criticize the use of civilians as shields? Why are you not furious that bombs are made in apartment buildings, that munitions are carried in ambulances, that rockets are launched from schoolyards, that beaches are mined?
Why are you so silent when suicide bombers attack civilians in Israel? Why are you silent when rockets are launched at Israeli cities? Why do you react so angrily when Israel responds to those attacks?
Much of Palestinian culture revels in violence. Look at their own TV shows, look at their cartoons, watch as children are taught to be suicide bombers. Why do you not object?
Ask yourself why gay and lesbian Palestinians flee to Israel.
Ask how many captured Israeli civilians and soldiers have been returned alive.
Ask yourself why Israeli newspapers (Haaretz and Maariv) are considered "propaganda," yet there are so few questions regarding the veracity of Palestinian claims.
For all you arm-chair strategists: do you believe that Israel could be defended if it withdrew from the West Bank?
I can't find an easy way to say this: I truly believe that the Left has got it terribly wrong on this issue. That old hatreds are masked in politically correct statements. That Israel is wrongly portrayed and slandered. And at the end of the day, I believe that the Left is being used to advance an agenda that will end in the slaughter of the Israeli population.
EDIT: I did not say all Kossacks. I said "many Kossacks" There are differing opinions, but I perceive a fairly nasty anti-Israel bias in many of the diaries, many of the comments. Why is Israel held under such a critical eye by many Kossacks?
I just did a quick search: One year of Israel articles. Take a look. And the story which motivated me to write this diary: Open Season On Palestinians: Another Massacre in Gaza.