Daily Kos, the Left, and Israel

Does Daily Kos hate Israel? Does the American left-wing despise the Jewish state? I don't really know. This is, in part, because we constantly receive mixed signals. This diary, the same one that DKW referenced in his recent post, represents an excellent example of this.

It is titled The Rise and Irony of the Zionist Reich.

Comparing Israel to Nazi Germany is just about the most offensive thing anyone can do viz-a-viz the Jewish people. Aside from being patently, and obviously, false, it is a way of using the most horrific experience of the Jews as a weapon against them. And, yet, there it sits on the largest liberal political blog in the United States, if not the world.

At first glance, it is easy to conclude that American liberals despise Israel and it is unquestionably the case that some do so. How much evidence needs to pile up before we can draw this conclusion? And it's not about criticism. It's about hatred. Comparing Israel to Nazi Germany does not constitute "criticism." It constitutes hate. But, again, how much evidence do we need? As we've previously noted, AmbroseBurnside wrote a Daily Kos diary containing a poll asking, "Do you agree with Hugo Chavez that Israel is a genocidal, killer state?"

The final tally shows that 53 percent of Daily Kos members who responded do, in fact, agree with that assessment. Now, Ambrose is someone who has stirred the wrath of many within the Daily Kos I-P community and therefore many of us wondered if the polling results were as much to do with him as with the true sentiment of the poll responders. It was for this reason that Volleyboy wrote a diary asking the same question. Volleyboy is a well-liked and well-respected supporter of Israel on Daily Kos and, indeed, his poll received a different result, with only 34 percent of the respondents agreeing that Israel is a "genocidal, killer state."

Only 34 percent.

Merely a third.

How are we to assess this? The great majority of "Kossacks" do not participate in I-P diaries for a variety of reasons. Some, perhaps the majority, are simply not that interested in the topic... and why should they be? Others are turned off by the vitriol that is so often on display in those diaries. Yet it is obvious that among those who do care, that Israel hatred is prominent.

The Rise and Irony of the Zionist Reich also contained a poll asking "Do you see the parallels between The Israeli Government and Nazi Germany?" 46 percent responded in the affirmative. Almost half of Daily Kos respondents believe that the Jewish state is something akin to Nazi Germany. At the same time, it must be noted, the majority of commenters in that diary lambasted the diarist as an anti-Semite and the Daily Kos administration banned the diarist.

So, why the mixed message? How is it that so many of the commenters disagreed with the assessment of the diarist and, yet, almost half claim that they think what he said is true? What conclusions can we draw from this developing picture? It seems clear to me that, as the liberal-left thinks of itself as anti-racist, obvious expressions of anti-Semitism, such as comparing Israel to Nazi Germany, are not tolerated. Daily Kos, in fact, has a policy banning such expressions of hatred. At the same time, quite clearly, many Kossacks privately agree that the Jews of Israel have evolved into Nazis. They may not be willing to say so in the comments, but they obviously do not mind expressing that opinion in an anonymous poll.

We all understand, of course, that these are not scientific polls. They cannot be taken as definitive. Nonetheless, three polls over the course of a week have given results in which from one-third to one-half of the respondents expressed extremist loathing toward Israel. The next question to ask is, does this hatred toward Israel represent a hatred for Jews? Israel is, after all, the Jewish state. About 40 percent of the world's Jewish population lives there and about eighty percent of that country is Jewish. So, if one hates Israel is not one hating Jews? Many would say "no." They do not hate Jews, but hate Israel's policies toward the Palestinian people. The problem is, claiming that Israel is a "genocidal, killer state" or that it is something akin to Nazi Germany, does not represent criticism of Israeli state policy. Criticism of Israeli state policy, like criticism of any countries' policies, is welcome and needed.

But this is something else.

In a recent sociological study conducted by Yale’s Institute for Social and Policy Studies (pdf), professors Edward H. Kaplan and Charles A. Small concluded that degrees of hatred toward Israel closely coincide with degrees of anti-Semitism. Published in the Journal of Conflict Resolution, in August 2006, the article is titled, Anti-Israel Sentiment Predicts Anti-Semitism in Europe.

So? Is Daily Kos I-P crawling with anti-Jewish racists?

I do not know the answer. But as my dear 'ol ma used to say, "Something stinks to high heaven."

Posted by Karmafish