JNS.org..
03 December '19..
Peter Beinart has made another foray in his fight against Israel and Zionism. The contributing editor at The Atlantic has written as a supporter of IfNotNow, and has helped inspire other radical anti-Zionists. But, of course, he denies what is obvious to all in his thinking and actions.
In remarks he recently delivered in the framework of a Munk Debate, the question of which was “Be it resolved, anti-Zionism is anti-Semitism,” his fellow debater was New York Times columnist Bret Stephens, and since a debate consists of arguments from both sides of an issue, I, at least, can only presume that Beinart thinks anti-Zionism is, at least a bissel, not quite anti-Semitic.
Indeed, in the published version, Beinart asserts that “No, anti-Zionism doesn’t always mean anti-Semitism.” Perhaps indicative of his convoluted presentation, the Munk Debates site highlighted his words that “equating Palestinian politics with bigotry undermines the quest for peace.”
Having followed him since his 2010 essay in which he promoted the view that the reality of Israel challenged the liberal values of Jewish college students they had imbibed as Americans such as a belief in open debate, a skepticism about military force and a commitment to human rights and contradicted them. Beinart, however, did not so much as seek to explain to those students that those values very much existed in Israel, did not exist in the Arab/Muslim culture that threatened Israel’s existence and that, despite their innocence, they did not have think they were required to shed those values when it came to Israel.
Rather, he sought to rip out the heart of Jewish solidarity from these youth and pit them against Israel. Ever since, he has been pirouetting—twisting ideas, terms and concepts so as to confound and discombobulate a younger generation of Jews.
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Yisrael Medad is an American-born Israeli journalist and political commentator.
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