There was a piece on campus divisions related to the Israel vs. Hamas war in one of the major dailies a while back. (Can’t remember which one, but there were lots, and it was typical of the genre.) As expected for their demographic, most students interviewed harshly criticized Israel for the wholesale destruction in Gaza. I sympathized with most of the views expressed, though Israel’s critics lose me when they downplay the 10/7 atrocities or frame the discussion in simplistic colonialist vs. oppressed terms.
I also sympathized with much of what Israel’s defenders in that article said too, i.e., that antisemitism is a growing scourge that has always animated the worst fucking people on earth, and the Hamas fighters who attacked civilians on 10/7 were terrorists and war criminals whose actions demanded a response. But I related most to the views of a foreign student (Italian, I think) who didn’t take a clear side when asked what he thought about the situation. He said (paraphrasing), “My opinion is it’s tragic.”
Josh Marshall published a piece today that addresses how we got here and what the implications are for the Biden administration. Marshall notes that the folks staffing the admin are mostly veterans of the Obama White House who know exactly who Netanyahu is. And thanks to Netanyahu’s lock on power, American public opinion has shifted permanently too.
It was galling to many American Jews to see Netanyahu plotting against a President they supported, not to mention the offense of any foreign leader so brazenly meddle in domestic US politics. I’ve mentioned a number of times since October 7th, that it is hard to over-estimate the damage caused by having a generation of Americans learn about Israel through the prism of a long-serving Israeli Prime Minister plotting against a US President they not only supported but viewed as central to their aspirations about America’s future. But beyond the anger over Netanyahu’s open alliance with the US Republican party was an additional point: do you not realize the folly of staking the US-Israel alliance on the most rapidly declining political demographic in American society? How does that work out exactly?
Of course, from the perspective of 2024 it’s not like it’s Democratic majorities as far as the eye can see. But the same gist still applies. At the most basic level many of us predicted in 2014 precisely the dynamic of of the politics of 2024 – young voters, especially progressive voters and people of color, seeing Israel through a much different and less forgiving prism than their parents generation. You’re sowing the seeds of your own undoing and what’s worse you’re going to come crying to us for help when you reap this harvest and we’re not going to be able to provide much. And here we are.
I agree when he (Marshall) says, “It’s time for Biden to make publicly clear that his support for Israel is not support for Netanyahu and that the latter is not only an obstacle to US interests but Israeli ones as well.” From what I can tell from reading their press, most Israelis would agree, and accurately naming Netanyahu as an obstacle might mollify Biden supporters who are outraged at the seemingly unlimited support Biden has provided to Israel as it has smashed Gaza to pieces.