When will Israel ever be an issue?

[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.

[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

[BritishDixie]

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?

I also stand for gay rights, economic welfare, health care for all, and other progressive ideals, which Israel follows quite a bit. Also, I don't even know if Israel has committed any more war crimes than the Palestinians have. I mean, I'm not one of those right-wingers who thinks Israel is perfect, it has its problems, but it's the one of the only democracies in the middle east, and is one of, and quite likely the most, progressive country in the middle east.

Israeli trigger-happiness has directly led to more support for Islamists and dictators. It is well and good that it is a democracy, and yes its opponents are usually worse, but that doesn't excuse its overly jingoistic foreign policy and its absurd treatment of the Palestinians.

The problem is that a majority of Arabs refuse to accept Israel's right to exist, leading to a more aggresive (understandably) Israeli foreign policy, which in turn leads to more Arab resentment. Its a vicious cycle.