The Silence Of The Left On Israel

173 words.

I’ve seen some mutterings, most recently at CJR Daily, about why the liberal blogosphere is ignoring the Israel/Hezbollah/Hamas conflict going on right now. To me, it’s pretty simple, and I’m a little surprised it isn’t common knowledge. It has nothing to do with the “complexity” of the Middle East. Liberal bloggers either have to take the side of Israel or the side of Hezbollah. If they take the side of Hezbollah, they’re siding with terrorists, and that hurts their Democratic “tough but smart” anti-terrorism pseudo-plan (not to mention opening themselves up to a flood of conservative accusations of anti-Semitism). If they take the side of Israel, they’re essentially agreeing with the Bush administration, and that goes completely against their radical anti-Bush doctrine. So it’s a no-win situation for the left. They have no choice but to remain silent and hope nobody notices what it means: That liberal bloggers are far more interested in getting Democrats in power than in meaningful discussions of world events. They’re all playing amateur campaign manager, in other words.

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