I think the source of the anti-Israeli hatred on the “left” is really pretty simple. Our side is always evil, Israel is on our side, QED.

I think jerry is quite right in that much of the the Jewish left consists of “me-too socialists” who are looking for some sort of social acceptance in a largely Christian society. Socialism is, after all, a secular Christianity. I believe it is this phenonmenon which motivated so many Eastern European Jews to become Communists in the early days. It’s not self-hatred but it’s definitely short-sightedly self-destructive.

John Moore–I think you’re ascribing a little too much rationality to hatred. Hatred tends to be like a forest fire in a drought stricken land which consumes all in front of it, whatever its origins. These people may start out hating Israel but, as the hatred builds, the nearest JCC becomes an ever more satisfying target.

Knucklehead–”The Left is today’s KKK.” Right on! That’s what Roger keeps trying to say. “Left in form but right in substance.” (But I prefer Roger’s model of the tetrahedron to describe today’s political situation. “Left” and “right” just don’t begin to describe it for me.)

Isn’t it interesting and strange how a lot of the Bush hatred is an unholy mixture of hatred of Southerners combined with anti-Semitism (“damned neocons”), all cooked up together into one fresh new stew for the consumption of a whole new generation of bigots? If only it could somehow be proven that Karl Rove is Jewish….