A large proportion of Jewish intellectuals have long assumed that Judaism and liberal-left politics are entirely consistent with one another. So long as the existence of the state of Israel seemed to harmonize with liberal-left ideals, especially in the years of its socialist founding, it could be actively supported or at least tacitly accepted by most Jewish liberals. But the Six Day War of June 1967, requiring Jews to choose between liberal pieties and defense of the Jewish state, swiftly and dramatically changed all this.

After 1967, Israel’s Arab foes stopped talking about driving Jews into the sea and instead redefined the Palestinian struggle as that of a “national liberation front.” This change in rhetoric was calculated to appeal to liberals, not least to Jewish liberals. The more Israel was cast in a negative role by "progressive" opinion for its alleged misdeeds, the more eager were Jewish intellectuals to escape the taint, the embarrassment of association with the state and Zionism.

By publicly declaring their contempt for the Jewish state, anti-Israel Jews announce, with a vanity that is both personal and ethnic, what they view as their supreme virtue in being able to transcend their "Jewishness."


Adapted from "Jews Who Hate Israel" (Jamie Glazov's February 22, 2006 interview with Edward Alexander, professor emeritus of English at the University of Washington).