The Informationist

Zero Tolerance for Anti-Semitism

A few days agoe Matt Yglesias got back on his “I can’t stand it when people say that Democrats have no ideas” kick. This time he focused on Security Ideas.

Somehow, a couple of bozos seemed to see this as a good opportunity to trash Israel. Despite my temptation to just ignore the garbage, I’ve come to appreciate just how dangerous it can be to leave this crap unchallenged in plain sight. I countered--and on request provided facts, numbers, and sources. They responsed in turn as the anti-Semitic always do. They ignored the numbers, announced that they didn’t trust the sources, decried Israel’s legitimacy, redefined words, and made up their own facts. The whole thing was pretty ugly.

Then yesterday stalenyc asked some important questions about our ability to rely upon the future support of the Democratic Party. I replied, together we took a couple of potshots, and then I got hit with a reasonable challenge: Was I really saying that the Democratic Party has abandoned its support for Israel? And if so, where was my evidence. Once again, I found myself apologizing to Peter H for an inference that others drew from my posts:

You are absolutely right and I apologize for any intimation that the Democratic Party--and in particular its leadership--has become anti-Israel. I have many gripes about our current batch of party leaders, but being anti-Israel is not among them. No anti-Israel voice inside the Democratic Party has ever made it to a position of influence, much less leadership. Support for Israel, the one liberal democracy in the Middle East, remains a matter of bipartisan consensus--a consensus in which every American should feel a great deal of pride.

My concern is with what lies just beyond the horizon. “Matters of bipartisan consensus” are becoming increasingly rare. I believe that the leaders of both parties are working hard to divide the American public; witness Karl Rove’s recent outlandish statements about Democrats and Howard Dean’s equally outlandish claims about Republicans. I believe that there are bedrock American values that large majorities of both parties share, and that support for Israel rests upon them (much as we showed support for a liberal democratic republic of France in the first half of the 20th century). I wonder if Rove and Dean share my belief in such bedrock values.

So my question remains: what happens if bipartisan consensus dwindles?

Stalenyc also thoughtfully rose to my defense. My firends at the NJDC would not be pleased.

Posted by Bruce Abramson from on 06/29 at 12:09 AM in Foreign Affairs and the World beyond Our Borders