Beth Ann Johnson
Jul 28, 2017 · 4 min read

This is an interesting piece, and I enjoyed it but I think that the writer misses some key points.

First off, let us start with the issue of the “far left” rejecting the existance of Israel. While I am sure that there are a few voices on the left that do that, I am not hearing them. I have not heard anyone on the left (and I don’t know everyone on the left, but I follow most the facebook sites of the legit left) say that Israel has no right to exist.

What I do hear (and agree with) from the left is a deepening concern over the Palestinian crisis. We can debate the historical causes of it from now until 2020, but the reality is that Palestinians living in Gaza and the West Bank lead a very difficult life, as do Palestinians living in Jeruselem or in parts of Israel.

While I applaud the ADL for their support of LGBTQ rights in the USA, I would ask them to also consider taking a stand supporting the human rights of Palestinians living in what are essentially refugee camps in Gaza, the West Bank and parts of Jerusalem. For decades the lack of real human rights for these people has been used by the surrounding Arab nations as a reason to further demonize Israel. I would think it would long term be in the best interest of all Israeli’s for the two-state solution to be implimented as quickly as possible. I am not saying that Israel has to trust the Palestinians, or the other Arab states — trust is something that must be earned. But I see no other way for this portion of the situation to be resolved.

I would also suggest that the ADL call for the Israeli government to stop allowing the building new settlements in places where they have previously agreed not to build new settlements. This is not asking Israel to dissolve — it is simply asking Israel to acknowledge that the continued building of settlements on the West Bank is making a difficult situation worse.

BTW, while I understand that putting the Star of David on a Gay Pride Flag was simply a way of a group to show that they were Jewish AND members of the LGBTQ community, I also understand that for many people, that same Star of David represents repression of the people of Palestine. This is more of an issue around educating people than it is about anti-semitism, I suspect (though I could be wrong). Please be careful about labelling everyone on the left as “anti-Israel” at a time that Israel is benefiting from President Obama’s willingness to fully fund Israeli military defense projects including the Iron Dome.

As for the agreement that Europe, the USA and Iran put together, I think everyone needs to realize that any treaty/deal is based on compromise. No one gets everything they want, everyone settles for something they think is less than “ideal”. I suspect that for Israel, and for many US conservatives, the “ideal” deal with Iran would have included regime change and Iran giving up all weapons and accepting the right of Israel to exist. That was never going to happen, so some folks are naturally unhappy with the deal.

I think it is worth noting that even the Trump Admin has had to (very reluctantly) admit that Iran is keeping their end of the deal.

I think it is also worth noting that while it is true that Iran supports terrorists, it is equally true, perhaps even more true, that Saudi Arabia supports terrorists, and everyone, include Israel, is currently willing to ignore that fact. The USA just sold them the biggest arms package ever. Does anyone doubt that one day those weapons, like the ones we sold to Iraq in the 1980’s, or like the ones we provided to bin Laden, will be used not on our enemies, but rather our friends (like Israel) or ourselves?

Iran is not a perfect partner. But they are, in many ways, more moderate than Saudi. Iranian women can access education. Saudi women cannot. Iranian Christians are allowed to worship in a church. Saudi’s are not allowed to be Christian. Period.

The Saudi’s have worked very hard to keep the world angry at Iran. When the Iran revolution happened, Iran lost its place as the lead power in the region, and the Saudi’s became the power player in the region. And they have no desire to lose that position. So they do tend to demonize Iran, without ever admitting that their own brand of Islam (wahabism) is anti-Israel, anti-Christian, and pro-violence.

I am a liberal/progressive, and I support the right of Israel to exist; I support the right of Israel to defend herself. I also support the rights of Palestinians to have a country. In fact, the UN Partition Plan that was voted on essentially created that country already. Time to get this fixed. I am not saying it is easy to fix. I know it is not. And we can all demonize Hamas, the PLO and other leadership, but in doing so we forget the very real human beings whose lives are a daily struggle, who are caught between the Israeli government and their own bad leaders. Israel has the better hand here — please, please help them be gracious, help them show mercy, help them help the Palestinian people.

In the end, it is really the only route to peace in the middle east.