When will Israel ever be an issue?

[Free Palestine]

Currently in the United States, both the left and the right seem to agree on support for Israel.  What few pro-Palestine people there are are either portrayed as right-wing antisemites or left-wing loonies.

When will criticism of Israel ever become mainstream in American politics?

[The Mikado]

How many Israel threads have you made this weekend alone?

[oakvale]

When the banks () and international financiers () stop controlling the media () and thus the political process. So, never.

[Free Palestine]

How many Israel threads have you made this weekend alone?

This is the only one, isn't it?

[I Can't Get That Sound You Make, Out Of My Head]

Never, unless the Reloveution (sp?) garners momentum.

[Governor Scott]

It won't.

[Free Palestine]

It won't.

It's sad really, especially when you consider that Israel violates international law a lot more than Iran.

[True Federalist]

Probably not unless the Dome of the Rock is torn down to rebuild the Temple.

[Emperor SJoyce]

When the anti-Israel crowd has more money and lives in greater numbers in more swing states than the pro-Israel crowd. Same as every other political issue ever.

[Nhoj]

It won't.

Having a negative view of the PA is probably something a good portion of supporters of the Palestinian cause have.

[fezzyfestoon]

When the anti-Israel crowd has more money and lives in greater numbers in more swing states than the pro-Israel crowd. Same as every other political issue ever.

Amen

[BritishDixie]

Currently in the United States, both the left and the right seem to agree on support for Israel.  What few pro-Palestine people there are are either portrayed as right-wing antisemites or left-wing loonies.

When will criticism of Israel ever become mainstream in American politics?

Hopefully never.

It won't.

It's sad really, especially when you consider that Israel violates international law a lot more than Iran.

But on the other hand Israel has never held 52 Americans hostage for 14 months. Neither does it stone women, threaten to "wipe" its enemies from the face of the earth, aid and abett international terrorism, hang homosexuals or conduct rigged elections. Its wonderful how the left can support regimes like this simply due to their hatred of Israel.

[Speaker Dereich]

It won't.

And nobody will ever vote for a catholic, black or woman for president, right?

The question is when pro-Palestinians will be a bigger part of the Democratic base then Jews are. I expect a vocal pro-Palestine block to develop within the Democratic caucus in the next 10-20 years.

[Vosem]

It won't in the foreseeable future.

The question is when pro-Palestinians will be a bigger part of the Democratic base then Jews are. I expect a vocal pro-Palestine block to develop within the Democratic caucus in the next 10-20 years.

I really doubt that; you'll notice, the trend over the past few years has been for more public approval of Israel's actions, not less (in 2000 pro-Israelis were at about ~60%, now they're ~70%; pro-Palestinians have remained about the same at ~20%). If anything, the logical trend is that pro-Israeli groups become stronger, not the reverse.

[hawkeye59]

Currently in the United States, both the left and the right seem to agree on support for Israel.  What few pro-Palestine people there are are either portrayed as right-wing antisemites or left-wing loonies.

When will criticism of Israel ever become mainstream in American politics?

Hopefully never.

It won't.

It's sad really, especially when you consider that Israel violates international law a lot more than Iran.

But on the other hand Israel has never held 52 Americans hostage for 14 months. Neither does it stone women, threaten to "wipe" its enemies from the face of the earth, aid and abett international terrorism, hang homosexuals or conduct rigged elections. Its wonderful how the left can support regimes like this simply due to their hatred of Israel.

I can't believe I agree with you for once.

[BritishDixie]

Currently in the United States, both the left and the right seem to agree on support for Israel.  What few pro-Palestine people there are are either portrayed as right-wing antisemites or left-wing loonies.

When will criticism of Israel ever become mainstream in American politics?

Hopefully never.

It won't.

It's sad really, especially when you consider that Israel violates international law a lot more than Iran.

But on the other hand Israel has never held 52 Americans hostage for 14 months. Neither does it stone women, threaten to "wipe" its enemies from the face of the earth, aid and abett international terrorism, hang homosexuals or conduct rigged elections. Its wonderful how the left can support regimes like this simply due to their hatred of Israel.

I can't believe I agree with you for once.

Bipartisanship is good

[Speaker Dereich]

It won't in the foreseeable future.

The question is when pro-Palestinians will be a bigger part of the Democratic base then Jews are. I expect a vocal pro-Palestine block to develop within the Democratic caucus in the next 10-20 years.

I really doubt that; you'll notice, the trend over the past few years has been for more public approval of Israel's actions, not less (in 2000 pro-Israelis were at about ~60%, now they're ~70%; pro-Palestinians have remained about the same at ~20%). If anything, the logical trend is that pro-Israeli groups become stronger, not the reverse.

Not necessarily. I doubt that support is as solid as it looks; Ron Paul would probably count himself as a supporter but that won't really help the Israeli groups. And there really aren't many other worlds to conquer for the pro-Israel crowd; we don't really do anything diplomatically that they don't support (with the minor blip of the Arab Spring excepted), we give them unquestioned backing in the UN, almost singlehandedly prevent them from being a world pariah, and spend about 1/5th of our foreign aid budget directly and indirectly supporting them, even when they face no tangible threats and have a GDP per capita the size of Spain. And with the isolationists gaining ground and austerity as the byword of the day, support for them can only go down.

[The Mikado]

Echoing that support for Palestinians is likely at least marginally higher than support for the PA (the PA is a pretty depressing institution)

[Torie]

There might be more potential when Islam ceases to be an issue. Right now concerns about Islam are crowding Israel out.

[Free Palestine]

Currently in the United States, both the left and the right seem to agree on support for Israel.  What few pro-Palestine people there are are either portrayed as right-wing antisemites or left-wing loonies.

When will criticism of Israel ever become mainstream in American politics?

Hopefully never.

It won't.

It's sad really, especially when you consider that Israel violates international law a lot more than Iran.

But on the other hand Israel has never held 52 Americans hostage for 14 months. Neither does it stone women, threaten to "wipe" its enemies from the face of the earth, aid and abett international terrorism, hang homosexuals or conduct rigged elections. Its wonderful how the left can support regimes like this simply due to their hatred of Israel.

I can't believe I agree with you for once.

[Free Palestine]

I can't understand how a left-wing/liberal person can be pro-Israel.  Don't liberals usually stand for international law and human rights?

[Senator Ben]

I can't understand how a left-wing/liberal person can be pro-Israel.  Don't liberals usually stand for international law and human rights?

[Emperor SJoyce]

I can't understand how a left-wing/liberal person can be pro-Israel.  Don't liberals usually stand for international law and human rights?

Don't be ridiculous. Liberals stand for such things when a Democrat champions such ideals, yes, and are against such ideas whenever a Republican promotes them. That's how these things work.

[Governor Scott]

It won't.

And nobody will ever vote for a catholic, black or woman for president, right?

The question is when pro-Palestinians will be a bigger part of the Democratic base then Jews are. I expect a vocal pro-Palestine block to develop within the Democratic caucus in the next 10-20 years.

lol

[Zioneer]

It won't.

And nobody will ever vote for a catholic, black or woman for president, right?

The question is when pro-Palestinians will be a bigger part of the Democratic base then Jews are. I expect a vocal pro-Palestine block to develop within the Democratic caucus in the next 10-20 years.

Actually, from what I understand, many of the liberal Jewish block within the Democratic party aren't that hostile towards Palestine, and don't approve of much of what the right-wing in Israel is doing.