Golda Meir once said something that at the time I thought was hyperbole, and I’m paraphrasing: What the world wants is a liberal, progressive, humane, dead Jewish people.

While Americans tend to remain pro-Israel Europeans aren’t. It reminds me of Tom Wolf’es quip that the dark night of fascism always seems about to fall on America but somehow it lands on Europe. But let’s concede that part, if not the most part, of the problem is Israel’s deplorable and often almost non-existent hasbara (information) efforts.

Europe is pretty much gone, although such efforts are still worth it there, but between the growing Muslim population and what turned out to be Europe’s endemic and iradicable anti-Semitism, we can hardly expect European governments, except possibly for former Soviet-ruled countries, to be pro-Israel. But the American people’s support for Israel is not etched in stone and especially under the current administration among certain demographic groups support is going to go down.

Alas, back in the early seventies Bayard Rustin organized BASIC, the Black Americans in Support of Israel Committee, with many black establishment figures signing on. Today I wonder how many you’d get.

The problem isn’t just dishonest reporting. It’s a dishonest, distorted, and unjust utopian worldview that originated in Nazi Germany, and has been spread thoughout the US for decades, ever since the Carter administration. This worldview, and the entitlement mentality it induces, are what is causing the wave of antisemitism that is rapidly poisoning the world today. “The world would be peaceful, if not for Israel” is just the modern version of “The world would be perfect, if not for the Jews.”

Honest reporting on Israel would only serve to drive more people to condemn them, for making the hard choices that protect themselves at the expense of their enemies’ lives, whereas entitled left-wingers believe they should let themselves be killed, as Ghandi suggested, so they could claim the “moral high ground.” Better a dead saint than a living sinner, at least as long as it’s the Jews that are dying for the sake of the Gentiles’ sins.

I had forgotten that one. But then I wasn’t pretending to be complete either.

Wasn’t that the one with the cover that showed Begin framed by a Jewish star made up of machine guns? Or was that Newsweek?

About that time some clever dude wrote a letter to one of the newsweeklies saying that he thought that the Israeli prime minister’s first name was “Intransigent.”

David

I modified your statement to be more accurate. It is not a matter of being enen handed as that implies deliberately presenting both sides favorably or sympathetically. The actual necessity is to present the facts and to present them honestly. I think that we can all think about analogies that will apply to the situation.