While the opinions expressed by my left-wing Jewish friend by no means represent those of most left-wing American Jews regarding Israel, much of what he had to say to me, no doubt, would resonate with many of them. He typifies the type of left-winger who speaks in undigested slogans. Not much original thought is evident in his discourse only spoon-fed party line jargon. My sense was that his discussion with me, a known conservative, was a subconscious cry for help.
The central disclaimer of his thought process was that, as an American, he didn’t have to think about Israel and it’s problems. He stated that he felt that the Jewish population of Israel could be simply shipped to the US if necessary. He obviously has imbibed the left-wing conspiracy outlook that Jews are rich and can afford to move to, say, Miami Beach. The idea that the Palestinian Arab population of Israel might relocate to one of the vast, oil-rich Arab States would, of course, not enter into his fecund imagination.
He doesn’t want to think about Israel because the International left he so admires is the primary anti-Israel force in the world today. To do so would require him to question the dictat of his political faith. While his conscience appears to bother him, especially when he sees atrocities committed against the Jews of Israel, which he condemns, his regimental loyalty to the left requires him to distance himself from anything as sentimental as feelings of kinship and loyalty to people of his own faith.. For the left, morality is relative to what benefits the world socialist interest as it is precieved by politically correct intellectuals. He also senses, at least subconsciously, the Marxist nature of the Palestinian Arab leadership. I definitely sense his inner turmoil.
The main accusation by him against Israel is that the “religious right” in America, after all, supports it. He informs me of this in conspiratorial tones. Of course, he is correct, the believing Christian community of America is more supportive of Israel than any other group. This is because believing Christians believe in G-D and the Bible, which calls for an ingathering of the Jewish exiles as a prelude to the Messianic age. American Christians also support Israel because the Jews of Israel believe in and practice, relative to their neighbors, western values of free market capitalism, representative government, and freedom. These are concepts that fill my friend, and the left in general, with a sort of unquenchable hatred. Never mind that he personally owns a rather substantial home in an affluent suburb of Boston. The spirit in which he speaks of religious Christians reveals an anti Christian hatred.
Most troubling, and most revealing is his comment that if he were a Palestinian Arab, he would probably be throwing rocks at Jews and even blowing himself up as a walking bomb. He says this with a far-away look in his eyes that can only be described as Fascist. No doubt, if he were German in the 1930’s, he would be one of those throwing rocks at Jews and sending them off to the crematoria. Impressionable, empty-headed people are always vulnerable to the emotional appeal of propaganda cooked up by the authoritarian minded.
The Palestinian Arabs have, in fact, become largely Nazified in their outlook toward Jews. They believe much of the same conspiratorial theories about Jews that were common to the Nazi’s. The same strange and poisonous mix of political socialism and new age religious ideas seem to animate the Palestinian Arab as it did the Nazi’s. Utopia is only attainable, they believe, with the annihilation of the Jews. Israel is confronting a neo-Nazi movement.
My friend is not a deep thinker. If he were, he would understand that there is virtually no difference between Nazism and the left-wing Communism he so admires. Nazism can only be understood when examined alongside Communism. To do otherwise is viewing only half the problem and therefore missing the point.