M. J. Rosenberg: Pro-Palestinian Is Not Anti-Israel But the Opposite

M. J. Rosenberg in the Washington Spectator:

Sometimes it is instructive to listen to what Harvard law professor Alan Dershowitz says because his way of seeing the Israel-Palestinian conflict is typical of the thinking of both the Netanyahu government and its lobby here. I say “sometimes,” because most of Dershowitz’s opinions can be found in a dozen other places — from AIPAC, the “major Jewish organizations,” neocon websites like Commentary and in statements and tweetsfrom the Israeli government itself.

But sometimes Dershowitz inadvertently provides solid insight into the mentality that enables a 45-year occupation that, even Dershowitz admits, has proven so destructive to Israel.

In a debate last week with Peter Beinart, theDaily Beast columnist and author of the bestseller, The Crisis of Zionism, Dershowitz said that, for Jews, Israel is now “an embarrassment.”

In 1967, Jews were able to beat their chest and say “wow, we’re proud to be Israel [sic], look how tough Israelis are. It was a source of pride. Today, it’s a source of embarrassment.”

And he knows why, as evidenced by his reference to 1967, the year the occupation began.

But when Beinart pointed that out, Dershowitz responded that Israel’s evolution into “an embarrassment” has nothing to do with the occupation.

More here.