It’s hard to imagine a politician with better leftist creds than Bill de Blasio. But De Blasio made the mistake of appearing quietly before a pro-Israel group leading to feverish protests from the left.
The topic itself isn’t worth discussing.It’s more that sense of tired familiarity that greets the names who have signed on to a letter claiming that “the needs and concerns of many of your constituents–U.S. Jews like us among them are not aligned with… Israel’s hard-line government and its right-wing supporters.”
The only people who think that Israel’s neo-liberal coalition is a hard-line right-wing government that has more in common with Cameron’s UK coalition than whatever fascist fantasies are brewing in their brain are either insane or so far to the left that anyone who isn’t a Marxist looks right-wing to them.
And it’s obviously the latter. It’s that same tired parade of names from New York’s incestuous tired old left.
There are the faded lefty celebs like Eve Ensler, Anne Roiphe and Erica Jong. There are the “Rabbis for Obama” and “Fast for Gaza” anti-Israel clergy who predictably sign their names to any and every petition up to and including making every day Hamas Day like Burton Visotzky and Rolando Matalon.
There’s Alan Alda’s wife and Peter Beinart. There’s Rachel Cowan, whose Jewish husband returned to his roots and dragged along his non-Jewish wife who began calling herself a Rabbi and after his death, dedicated herself to demonizing the Jewish State. I’m not sure what kind of weird Freudian issues are responsible for that, but the appearance of her name on the list is every bit as predictable as snow in the winter.
There’s Rebecca Vilkomerson whose views on Israel are even uglier than those of the other signers. Along with them are a small circle of wealthy radical philanthropists, diet gurus, costume designers and daughters, sons and wives of more famous people who occupy a stifling little world in which they are known, but outside of which they remain unknown.
These people go to the same cocktail parties, attend the same events, have the same opinions and all hate Israel in the same tiresome leftist way. It would be beneath their dignity to join a Women in Black protest handing out anti-Israel flyers so they pass around and sign these letters instead.