Hoping they will kick their addiction to the war on Zionism - by Jonathan S. Tobin

After the Israel-UAE normalization deal, will the Palestinians or the Jewish left realize that events require them to change their thinking? Don’t bet on it.

Jonathan S. Tobin..
JNS.org..
13 August '20..

On a day when something historic and obviously positive happens, it’s always instructive to listen to those who aren’t joining in the cheering. While even many critics of President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had to applaud the U.S.-sponsored diplomatic deal struck between Israel and the United Arab Emirates for “full normalization of relations,” there were still some who were decrying it.

Both the Palestinian Authority and their Hamas rivals were united in describing the agreement as a “betrayal” and a “black day in the history of Palestine.” They are angry about an Arab state deciding that they will no longer remain hostages to the Palestinians’ century-old war on Zionism.

Equally upset were some on the Jewish left. Anti-Zionist groups like Jewish Voice for Peace and IfNotNow proclaimed their solidarity with the Palestinian rejectionists. Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.), a congressional supporter of the anti-Semitic BDS movement, tweeted that it was a “sweetheart business deal,” and using language that seemed similar to the statement issued by Hamas said it would merely prolong Israeli “apartheid” and “land stealing.”

But even those on the left who approve of the UAE’s willingness to normalize ties with Israel couldn’t do so wholeheartedly. J Street said that while it welcomed Netanyahu’s decision to suspend plans to extend sovereignty over parts of the West Bank, it was wrong to “leave Palestinians on the outside looking in.” Elsewhere on the left, the same rhetoric about “occupation” and “apartheid” continued, coming, for example, from Obama-administration Deputy National Security Advisor Ben Rhodes.

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