{Originally posted to the author’s eponymous website,
It is now a worldwide phenomenon that left-wingers and increasing numbers of liberals regard Israel as a fascist state. Such nonsense is highlighted in Haaretz, the Israeli post-Zionist daily newspaper, illustrating the extent to which even Jews will demonize Israel.
Their defamation includes accusations of war crimes, occupation, apartheid, the deliberate killing of children, suppressing freedom of expression and denying Palestinian statehood. In a nutshell — fascism.
Joseph Goebbels demonstrated that if one constantly repeats a lie, people begin to believe it.
In truth, while we are not perfect, no country is more democratic. And this, despite three major obstacles:
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From its inception, Israel has been an oasis of stability and peace surrounded by tyrannies committed to its destruction.
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Israel must allot more of its budget for defense than any other nation.
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Most of Israel’s founding population fled persecution and had no experience with democratic government.
But the drumbeat of delegitimization ignores these factors:
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Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has offered concessions far beyond the late Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin’s red lines and has offered to negotiate without preconditions.
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Accusations that Israel executes Nazi-like genocide against the Palestinians is an extension of medieval blood libels.
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Accusations of racism and apartheid are bizarre, given the freedom and level of integration enjoyed by Israeli Arabs.
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Accusations that Israel denies freedom of expression are ludicrous, stemming from attempts to cut government support for anti-Israel “cultural” activities, remove from the curriculum a novel praising Hamas, and deny entry into schools to organizations that besmirch the IDF with anonymous accusations of war crimes.
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The Supreme Court is the most interventionist High Court in any democracy.
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Freedom of expression is unbridled in Israel. What other government under siege would tolerate the treasonable outbursts of MKs such as Joint Arab List MK Hanin Zoabi identifying with those seeking the state’s destruction?
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Less than 3% of the disputed territories outside of Jerusalem are devoted to the settlements. And the only place in the world where a Jew is considered a war criminal for building a home is in Judea, Samaria and east Jerusalem.
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Many of the nongovernmental organizations subject to the new transparency law played a prominent role in demonizing Israel, accusing Israel of war crimes, apartheid and genocide, and promoting the boycott, divestment and sanctions movement. It is unprecedented for purported friendly foreign governments to generously fund NGOs seeking to besmirch and overthrow a democratically elected ally.
Despite the overwhelming challenges, Israel remains one of the liveliest democracies in the world.
Little can be done to change the behavior of our enemies. The anti-Semitic Islamists, the delusional Left and conventional anti-Semites will continue to pursue, through the hostile media and the internet, the perennial accusation that Jews — or today, the Jewish state — are the source of all evil.
What is disconcerting is that, with U.S. President Barack Obama’s encouragement, much of this propaganda is beginning to penetrate American liberal circles, including some people who were deeply supportive of Israel. This already includes the left wing of the Democratic Party and there are ominous signals that bipartisan U.S. support for Israel may not survive the onslaught.
It thus essential to constantly speak out and refute the lies and communicate with open-minded liberals, especially young people, to prevent them from being drawn into the left-wing anti-Israeli maelstrom where they can be brainwashed into believing the lies about Israelis becoming fascists. That will not be achieved by remaining silent or obsessively maintaining a bipartisan relationship by accepting the lowest common denominator.
