For the American right, Israel embodies the values that Obama’s U.S. no longer does

[geek tragedy]

http://www.haaretz.com/opinion/.premium-1.654191

But there’s a twist. It’s not just that Israel represents the West. It’s that Israel represents the West at a time when many conservatives feel the United States no longer does. As the result of demographic change, the United States is become less Christian, less nationalistic and less white. And for many on the right, Barack Obama — a black man with a Muslim father who grew up in Indonesia and supposedly considers American power a bad thing — personifies this shift.

Netanyahu, by contrast, believes that America and Israel are utterly virtuous while our Islamic enemies are utterly evil. He, like Cruz, believes that the only problem with American power is that it isn’t wielded self-confidently enough. And thus, he represents the America that conservatives fear is slipping away. “In sad recognition that we can expect no such thing from our own president,” Weekly Standard editor William Kristol wrote in the days before Netanyahu’s speech to Congress, “we say to the prime minister of Israel: When you speak to Congress, speak for the West."

There’s an irony here. Conservatives love Israel for the same reason anti-Zionists hate it. Think about the words Israel’s harshest foes use to describe it: colonial, imperial, settler, apartheid. What they all convey is that Israel is a foreign creation, imposed by Europeans, and sustained by the United States, at the native population’s expense. For the American right, being a Western outpost in the Middle East makes Israel heroic. For the anti-Zionist left, it makes Israel illegitimate.

That’s why Israel has become so important to the American right. For many conservatives today, Western civilization isn’t only embattled in the Middle East. It’s also embattled inside the United States. Thus, the struggle over how America treats Israel is also a struggle over how America defines itself.

[still_one]

1. No, Obama is stating what the U.S. position is and has been. A two state solution

[geek tragedy]

2. Not sure what your post has to do with the OP. nt

[still_one]

4. Just highlighting how Israel has been backing away from a two state solution. I didn't articulate

it well. The right and Israel are changing the rules, not Obama and the U.S.

The author also has a bias since why he brings up Obama's father being a Muslim, has nothing to do President Obama who happens to be a Christian, if that mattered anyway as far as American policy is concerned

[FBaggins]

9. Do you think that rejecting a 2-state solution should have consequences?

And, if so, is that only for Isael? Or for the Palestinians that have never accepted it?

[still_one]

11. When I said Isreal, I was referring to the current prime minister. Israel is

a divided country as the last election demonstrated, and the problems they had trying to form a government

I also believe the Palestinians are a divided group

As to your point should rejection of a two state solution have consequences? The U.S. should be pushing for I on both sides. Threatening consequences will not resolve the issue.

The sad fact is until both sides agree this will continue, and that is a waste of lives, money, and resources

It should be pointed out when Rabin was very close to bringing the sides together, an Isreali zealot took his life

[FBaggins]

12. I suppose while we're pointing things out...

... that it should also be noted that when Fatah was closer to bringing the two sides together, Hamas just slaughtered them and took sole contro of Gaza - where peaceful accords with Israel remain impossible to this day.

[oberliner]

3. Totally clueless article from Peter Beinart

If the American right wants a country that is super religious, nationalistic, and ethnically homogenous (and that also has no problem bombing "our Islamic enemies&quot then they need look no further than Saudi Arabia.

Saudi Arabia embodies those values in spades. No racial minorities, no immigration permitted, "family values" to the hilt, nationalism galore, no fear about using power with confidence against enemies.

Israel is actual the opposite of what Beinart says. It is in fact an outpost of liberalism and multiculturalism amidst a sea of countries who do not share those values. In fact it embodies the values of Obama's US - government subsidized health care and education, equal rights for women, open acceptance of homosexual marriage. Tel Aviv could be San Francisco's Middle Eastern twin.

No, the real reason for support among conservatives for Israel is based on "prophesy" and other Biblical instructions. This is the Christian Right - they don't give a crap of any of the nonsense Beinart talks about in the OP - they support Israel as the Jewish state because the Bible says that they are supposed to. The less-religious right-wingers (Pat Buchanan, Ron Paul, etc.) are no fans of Israel at all.

Israel is a liberal country - especially relative to its neighbors. And, thankfully, it remains a liberal country even though it is now under the cloud of a right-wing government (just as the US will continue to be "Obama's America" even if Ted Cruz ends up as our next president (heaven forbid).

Saudia Arabia is the ideological paragon of the American right-winger. Israel is basically Socialist.

[still_one]

5. I agree that a large portion of America's right is hoping for their "end of days". I am not so sure

how liberal Israel is though. Yes, compared to most middle eastern countries it would definitely be considered liberal, but it is a very divided country, very much like the U.S. in my view

[oberliner]

8. The religious right has a lot of babies

The Bible commands it!

In any case, I do fear that the demographics do not favor secular folks (in Israel, Europe, etc.).

Israel does have universal health care coverage though.

[geek tragedy]

6. Except that Saudi Arabia is Islamic and therefore the enemy of US conservatives

Tel Aviv is not Israel.

Buchanan and Paul are religious. Buchanan is a hardcore Catholic.

[oberliner]

7. Pat Buchanan Pens Exclusive for Anti-Semitic Publication

It appears that Pat Buchanan, the former presidential candidate and Reagan staffer, has decided to throw in his lot with professional anti-Semites. Buchanan, who once thrilled the 1992 GOP convention with a rousing speech on the culture war, has become since the turn of the millennium increasingly racist in his thinking and writing. Even so, having his work published in a blatantly anti-Semitic publication is a new low.

http://www.splcenter.org/blog/2015/04/29/pat-buchanan-pens-exclusive-for-anti-semitic-publication/

Pat's got something else going on entirely.

I agree with your point about SA but imagine if they were all white non-Muslims.

Tel Aviv metro area is home to almost half of the population of Israel.

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10. This is beginning to sound in Pauline Kael's analysis of the Nixon's victory.

For a supposedly liberal country, Israel elects mostly hardcore rightwingers, with a few dithering centrists thrown in.

The Israeli left is politically irrelevant. Meretz barely polls above the margin of error.

Israel is the ultimate security state, where SECURITY SECURITY SECURITY with a side of TERRORISM are the center of public discourse.

The State is trusted not because people want it do justice. People trust it to "keep us safe."

And by "us" of course that means certain ethnic groups and not others.

All Netanyahu has to argue is "I will keep you safe, the left (haha as if Herzog and Livni are 'left') will not" and the people fall in line behind the security state.

The US had one election like that--2004. Every election is like that in Israel.

[oberliner]

13. What percent of the US Congress are communists?

In the last Israeli government, the communist party had 4 seats. Meretz had 6. That's 10 out of 120 seats going to parties that are farther to the left than any that exist in the United States Congress (And that was with a RW government in power there).

Major issues where there is still a right-left debate going on in the US have already long been settled with the left wing position winning in Israel (abortion, gay rights, universal health care, free pre-K education, etc).

Considering that Israel has dealt with actual terrorist attacks on a pretty regular basis and actually does have neighbors who at least rhetorically speak forcefully about wanting Israel to no longer exist, it's understandable that there is something of a public discourse centered around security. It's a lot more real over there than over here.

In any case, if you took the Israeli system of elections and applied it to the US, there would be all kind of crazy right-wing coalitions over here.

[geek tragedy]

14. I live in New York, a city that lives with the constant threat of terrorist attacks

yet which votes liberally.

The US ended segregation decades ago.

[oberliner]

15. How many years was Guiliani mayor? Seven?

Last edited Thu Apr 30, 2015, 03:53 PM - Edit history (1)

Do you consider Bloomberg a liberal?

For how many decades did the US have legalized slavery? For how many more was there legalized segregation in the books?

Tel Aviv always votes for liberal mayors. Can't say the same about NYC.

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17. NYC vote in 2004: Bush vs Kerry

Bronx: Kerry 82.8%
Manhattan: 82.1%
Brooklyn: 74.9%
Queens: 71.7%
Staten Island: 42.7%

If you are going to compare Israel to 1783-1954 US, you're already conceding the debate.

[shira]

16. Quote: (haha as if Herzog and Livni are 'left')

Depends on your definition of 'left'. I doubt their views are in any way different than those of Obama or Kerry when it comes to I/P.

Do you consider Obama and Kerry "left"?

[geek tragedy]

18. No, I consider Obama and Kerry to be mainstream liberals, slightly left of center.

Obama and Kerry believe that negotiations, not war, are the way to deal with Iran. Pretty big distinction between them and Zionist Camp, who have lined up behind Netanyahu more or less.

[shira]

19. Garbage article. He didn't even bring up Democrats who support Israel

I can't count all the times in this forum the claim that Democrats are hardly different than Republicans on I/P. Beinart is either being dishonest or he's clueless. Either way, it makes this article trash.

What they all convey is that Israel is a foreign creation, imposed by Europeans, and sustained by the United States, at the native population’s expense.

Most American Rightwingers don't believe that. Well, the Pat Buchanan types do. And they're nowhere near the majority of all Republicans. Ass hats like Buchanan don't come close to being elected for the Presidency, Congress, and the Senate. Thank God for that. Beinart is lumping most or all Republicans together with Buchanan.

For the American right, being a Western outpost in the Middle East makes Israel heroic.

Really? How many rightwingers besides Pat Buchanan actually believe that? I thought most of them believe in bible prophecy, Jews need to be in Israel for Jesus, etc. Most believe in a Jewish homeland and support that for what it is. At least more than they believe it's just a Western outpost.