Liz Rose, a public school teacher and writer living in Chicago, has an excellent article in Mondoweiss (6/27/18) explaining the hypocrisy of liberal Zionism. It is entitled “It’s time for Tom Friedman to face the contradictions of liberal Zionism, and move on.”
Because Friedman frequently waves his Zionist banner in the pages of the New York Times, he has become the paradigmatic liberal Zionist in America whose blind loyalty to Israel forces him to speak out of both sides of his mouth.
On the one hand, Friedman and his Zionist compatriots complain about an American president embracing fascist dictators, such as Egypt’s al-Sisi, but they remain deafeningly silent about America’s blind support for Israel’s far-right leader, Benjamin Netanyahu.
Friedman happily quotes and defends Human Right’s Watch when it condemns the abuse of human rights in Egyptian, but he will ignore or condemn the same organization when it highlights identical abuses suffered by Palestinians in Israel, the West Bank and Gaza.
Here is an excerpt. You can find the full article here. It is well worth reading.
“It’s becoming more and more difficult for liberal Zionists to balance their support for human rights and global justice in Trump’s America with their support for Israel. But liberal Zionists in the U.S. still believe they can.
“This tension is evident in Thomas Friedman’s June 19, 2018, opinion piece in the New York Times, “Trump to Dictators: Have a Nice Day.” Friedman compares Trump to dictators and defends human rights, but Israel is left out of the column, and it feels like a glaring evasion. “What’s terrifying about Trump is that he seems to prefer dictators to our democratic allies everywhere,” Friedman rightly suggests, and uses North Korea’s Kim Jong-un, Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, and Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan as his examples. These dictators don’t just “crush their revolutionaries or terrorists but even their most mild dissenters,” Friedman writes. There’s no “space for even loyal opposition.” Friedman is correct, of course, that dissent is criminalized in these countries, and that Trump’s administration puts no limit on these dictators.
“When looking at Friedman’s column with a non-Zionist lens, however, the alliance between Trump and Netanyahu seems simply too obvious to leave out. Netanyahu’s dictator-like behavior is clear. The recent murder of 135 Palestinians at the Gaza border (and the wounding of more than 14,000), the U.S. Embassy move to Jerusalem that Netanyahu pushed, Israel’s decision to ban 20 groups who support BDS (Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions) from entering Israel, and the ongoing occupation and colonization of the Palestinian people that Israel has never taken responsibility for, are just a few indicators of Netanyahu’s desire for total control.
“That Netanyahu is left out of this column speaks to this growing tension between a universal liberalism and liberal Zionism; to reconcile the two, Friedman is forced to avoid the topic altogether.
“Similarly, Friedman can only sound as though he supports human rights if Israel is not mentioned. He cites Human Rights Watch to show the changes occurring in Egypt:
“Take Egypt. On May 31, Human Rights Watch reported that the Egyptian police had ‘carried out a wave of arrests of critics of President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi in dawn raids since early May 2018.’ Those arrested included Hazem Abd al-Azim, a political activist; and Wael Abbas, a well-known journalist and rights defender; as well as Shady al-Ghazaly Harb, a surgeon; Haitham Mohamadeen, a lawyer; Amal Fathy, an activist; and Shady Abu Zaid, a satirist.
“Again, Friedman accurately warns of increased censorship among Egypt’s citizens. But a site like Human Rights Watch becomes a convenient and valid source for liberal Zionists as long as it is not used to criticize Israel. When it does, it is accused of perpetuating an anti-Israel bias, rather than being a source that has authority and shows human rights violations by Israel. But Friedman’s liberal Zionism prevents him from acknowledging that Israel might violate the very rights he insists all people should have. For liberal Zionists, however, the only way Zionism and human rights can coexist is to erase Palestinian history and give Israel a pass.”
