The other day a Kos diarist voiced suspicions that AIPAC might have had something to do with a fire that destroyed the home Blue Dem congressional candidate Darcy Burner. The fire appears to have in fact been electrical in origin.
http://www.nwcn.com/...
What struck me was the bitterness of many of the comments on the diary, which I believe reflect deep tensions within the Kos community, and in the larger progressive world, about how we ought to feel about Israel, and Israeli influence in the US.
Personally, I think there the blind US support for Israel's aggressive policies of legal and illegal annexation, as well as human rights violations, represent a serious threat to US security.
Many of my friends, and members of my own family, see me as violently prejudiced against Israel. For my part, it seems to me that many American Jews (including me at one point) are blinded by selective history, and a deep sense that Israel, and Israel alone, represents the final determinant and safeguard of Jewish identity.
This kind of discussion is happening across America - and I think Kos is a great place to have it. I hope that the discussion can happen in more thoughtful form than the rumor-slinging and name-calling rebuttal that characterized the "Aipac/Darcy Burner" diary.
Attitudes towards Israel among Americans -- and progressive Americans -- are in ferment. We are trapped in a doomed adventure in Iraq, and facing serious military setbacks in Afghanistan, and a decline in influence in the Middle East generally. Many of us who have pumped our own gas have noticed that it's more expensive.
The largely-Jewish neocon role in promoting the Iraq war has not gone unnoticed. Joe Leiberman's bizarre conduct and support of US militarism has put a new spotlight on how distorted some of our previously unquestioned policy is.
A large rational, as well as less-rational, body of dissent has grown, criticizing the role that Israel plays in US decision-making. But these trends are signs of what I believe is a deeper movement of change.
Mearshiemer and Walt took a risky public step with their paper "The Israel Lobby", detailing how AIPAC manipulates the US political policy.
http://www.lrb.co.uk/...
Glenn Greenwald has recently posted about the use of anti-semitic smears launched by the right against anyone who criticizes Israel's present belicose posture towards Iran
http://www.salon.com/...
The incomprable Emptywheel has documented links between the actions of State Dept Neocon Larry Franklin, now facing prosecution, for leaks of classified documents about our Iran policy to AIPAC, to a deeper partially Israeli-sponsored conspiracy to lure the US into war with Iran.
http://emptywheel.firedoglake.com/...
On the right, Philip Giraldi has raised serious questions about whether Jonathan Pollard really was the last Isreali spy.
http://www.amconmag.com/...
Many who have spoken out on these issues have been targeted in their academic careers, including Juan Cole and Tony Judt.
Israeli Jews have often demonstrated a more-robust capacity for reality-based skepticism about Zionist mythology than their American counterparts, among them Amos Elon who has chronicled the brutal policies of the Israeli govenment towards the Palistinians.
http://www.nybooks.com/...
I'm afraid I've only touched the surface of the issues here, and linked to but a handful of important pieces, and excluded many others.
My point is that there is a real problem with Israeli policy, and deep uncertainty about what is really going on in the US-Israel relationship.
The issue is so emotional that many discussions descend into name-calling, with "Hitler" and "Anti- semite" leading the pack.
I think it's really important for progressives to start talking, learning, and thinking about these issues. In this way we serve the long-term stability of the US, Israel, and the larger world beyond us. I think a rational dialog can also head off a wave of real and violently irrational anti-semitism that may be coming, if rational discourse is not possible.
Thanks for listening.