When Extreme Left Attacks Moderate Left

From here, on, among two other books, this one - The Myths of Liberal Zionism by Yitzhak Laor, Verso: -

...Yitzhak Laor’s “The Myths of Liberal Zionism” also takes issue with the ways in which Israel becomes fantasy; however, whereas Schalit’s book is characterized by a deep empathy and humanity that seek to understand how we got into this mess, Laor, primarily a left-wing protest poet, offers an angry and uncompromising polemic. He seeks to demonstrate how liberal versions of Israeli Zionism seek to align Israel with the West and how they look for approval from the Western intelligentsia for the Zionist project. As he says, “There is something in modern-day Israeli culture that emphasizes more than ever a fantasy for Western homogeneity, side by side with a lack of will — or lack of ability — to cease to live by the sword.” The liberal peace camp, while it appears to offer compromise, is, for Laor, hypocritical in its willingness to perpetuate the Zionist causes of the conflict.

Laor’s main targets in his book are Amos Oz, David Grossman and A.B. Yehoshua. His argument is that while these writers are feted in Europe as courageous members of the peace camp, their work is ultimately an attempt to flatter European intellectuals’ deep-seated Islamophobia. Laor is certainly right to draw attention to the less-than-progressive aspects of Oz and the others that are often ignored by their European admirers, such as Oz’s support for the 2006 Lebanon War and (initially at least) for Operation Cast Lead. Ultimately, though, Laor’s problem is that these writers are Zionists and for him, Zionism is unacceptable, particularly when masked as liberalism.

(Kippah tip: BT)