Peter Beinart: Love Israel? Criticize it

The Daily Beast's Peter Beinart, responding to attacks on his recent essay, says those who love Israel as a liberal democratic Jewish state should be furious with the country today—not ignore or explain away its faults.

here's an excerpt:


Then come the diversions. Jon [Chait of the New Republic] says I wrote that Palestinians "wanted peace, but had been ill-served by their leaders." Actually, as one of the commentators on his own blog noted, I made no such claim. Rather, I attributed that position to many secular and younger American Jews. My own view is that Palestinian public opinion shifts depending on the prospects for a Palestinian state. But what is Jon's point? I never suggested that the Palestinians were blameless, or even that it is realistic to establish a Palestinian state tomorrow. My argument is that powerful forces in Israel are making the establishment of a Palestinian state impossible, ever, and that the more impossible it becomes, the more mainstream a view physical expulsion will become. It's telling that Jon doesn't grapple with that argument at all.

here's the link: http://www.thedailybeast.com/blogs-and-stories/2010-05-19/peter-beinart-love-israel-criticize-it