The Left's Rage Against Israel<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"There's something very ugly in this rage against Israel, argues\/notes\/reveals\/ explains Brendan O'Neil on\u00a0Spiked! A very large portion of Western liberals\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davidmills\/2014\/07\/the-lefts-rage-against-israel\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Left's Rage Against Israel\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"There's something very ugly in this rage against Israel, argues\/notes\/reveals\/ explains Brendan O'Neil on\u00a0Spiked! A very large portion of Western liberals\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davidmills\/2014\/07\/the-lefts-rage-against-israel\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"David Mills\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2014-07-16T19:02:55+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2014-07-16T19:06:01+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"David Mills\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"David Mills\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davidmills\/2014\/07\/the-lefts-rage-against-israel\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davidmills\/2014\/07\/the-lefts-rage-against-israel\/\",\"name\":\"The Left's Rage Against Israel\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davidmills\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2014-07-16T19:02:55+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2014-07-16T19:06:01+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davidmills\/#\/schema\/person\/5f2a56234185b5e0c643a1fc41257ac7\"},\"description\":\"There's something very ugly in this rage against Israel, argues\/notes\/reveals\/ explains Brendan O'Neil on\u00a0Spiked! A very large portion of Western liberals\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davidmills\/2014\/07\/the-lefts-rage-against-israel\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davidmills\/2014\/07\/the-lefts-rage-against-israel\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davidmills\/2014\/07\/the-lefts-rage-against-israel\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davidmills\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"The Left’s Rage Against Israel\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davidmills\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davidmills\/\",\"name\":\"David Mills\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davidmills\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davidmills\/#\/schema\/person\/5f2a56234185b5e0c643a1fc41257ac7\",\"name\":\"David Mills\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davidmills\/author\/dmills\/\"}]}<\/script>\n","yoast_head_json":{"title":"The Left's Rage Against Israel","description":"There's something very ugly in this rage against Israel, argues\/notes\/reveals\/ explains Brendan O'Neil on\u00a0Spiked! A very large portion of Western liberals","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davidmills\/2014\/07\/the-lefts-rage-against-israel\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"The Left's Rage Against Israel","og_description":"There's something very ugly in this rage against Israel, argues\/notes\/reveals\/ explains Brendan O'Neil on\u00a0Spiked! A very large portion of Western liberals","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davidmills\/2014\/07\/the-lefts-rage-against-israel\/","og_site_name":"David Mills","article_published_time":"2014-07-16T19:02:55+00:00","article_modified_time":"2014-07-16T19:06:01+00:00","author":"David Mills","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"David Mills","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davidmills\/2014\/07\/the-lefts-rage-against-israel\/","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davidmills\/2014\/07\/the-lefts-rage-against-israel\/","name":"The Left's Rage Against Israel","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davidmills\/#website"},"datePublished":"2014-07-16T19:02:55+00:00","dateModified":"2014-07-16T19:06:01+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davidmills\/#\/schema\/person\/5f2a56234185b5e0c643a1fc41257ac7"},"description":"There's something very ugly in this rage against Israel, argues\/notes\/reveals\/ explains Brendan O'Neil on\u00a0Spiked! A very large portion of Western liberals","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davidmills\/2014\/07\/the-lefts-rage-against-israel\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davidmills\/2014\/07\/the-lefts-rage-against-israel\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davidmills\/2014\/07\/the-lefts-rage-against-israel\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davidmills\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"The Left’s Rage Against Israel"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davidmills\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davidmills\/","name":"David Mills","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davidmills\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davidmills\/#\/schema\/person\/5f2a56234185b5e0c643a1fc41257ac7","name":"David Mills","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davidmills\/author\/dmills\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davidmills\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/487","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davidmills\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davidmills\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davidmills\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1863"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davidmills\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=487"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davidmills\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/487\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davidmills\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=487"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davidmills\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=487"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davidmills\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=487"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}

{"id":487,"date":"2014-07-16T15:02:55","date_gmt":"2014-07-16T19:02:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davidmills\/?p=487"},"modified":"2014-07-16T15:06:01","modified_gmt":"2014-07-16T19:06:01","slug":"the-lefts-rage-against-israel","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davidmills\/2014\/07\/the-lefts-rage-against-israel\/","title":{"rendered":"The Left’s Rage Against Israel"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

There\u2019s something very ugly in this rage against Israel<\/a>, argues\/notes\/reveals\/ explains Brendan O\u2019Neil on\u00a0Spiked!<\/em> A very large portion of Western liberals sit quietly by when almost any country in the world does something against its neighbors but come unglued when Israel acts against the Palestinians. It would express a double-standard even if one didn\u2019t think Israel had some reason to defend itself from someone crazy enough to fire missiles into the country.<\/p>\n

\u201cHow has this happened?\u201d O\u2019Neil asks. He offers pretty much the same answer as does David P. Goldman, quoted this morning<\/a>.<\/p>\n

How has opposing Israeli militarism gone from being one facet of a broader anti\u00adimperialist position, as it was in the 1980s, to being the main, and sometimes only, focus of those who claim to\u00a0be anti\u00adwar? Why does being opposed to Israel so often and so casually tip over into expressions of disgust with\u00a0the Israeli people and with the Jews more broadly?<\/p>\n

It\u2019s because, today, rage with Israel is not actually a considered\u00a0political position. It is not a thought \u00adthrough take on a conflict zone in the Middle East and how that conflict\u00a0zone might relate to realpolitik or global shifts in power. Rather, it has become an outlet for the expression of a\u00a0general feeling of fury and exhaustion with everything \u00ad with Western society, modernity, nationalism,\u00a0militarism, humanity.<\/p>\n

Israel has been turned into a conduit for the expression of Western self\u00ad-loathing, Western\u00a0colonial guilt, Western self\u00ad-doubt. It has been elevated into the most explicit expression of what are now\u00a0considered to be the outdated Western values of militaristic self-\u00adpreservation and progressive nationhood, and it\u00a0is railed against and beaten down for embodying those values. It is held responsible, not simply for repressing the\u00a0Palestinian desire for statehood, but for continuing to pursue virtues that we sensible folk in the rest of the West\u00a0have apparently outgrown and for consequently being the source of war and terrorism not only in the Middle\u00a0East but pretty much everywhere.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"