“The strictly controlled public narrative, handled in the United States not only by Israeli government spokespersons but the lobbying group @AIPAC, @AJCGlobal American Jewish Committee, and @adl Anti-Defamation League cheerleaders in America, has snowballed out of their control.”
What is new and qualitatively different is the vigorous and unapologetic analytic criticism of Israel—and U.S. policy that has provided it with billions in annual, unconditional military support for the past several decades—that has seeped into mainstream discourse.
the conversation has shifted far, far away from regurgitated, stale defenses of “Israel’s right to exist,” “terrorists,” and “anti-Semitism” to a new recognition of Palestinian rights. Protesters are bringing words to the fore like ‘apartheid,’ ‘land theft,’ & ‘ethnic cleansing.’
Even staid American think tanks have shifted their analysis, abandoning the mythical, infinite placeholders of a “two-state solution” and a “peace process,” relied on by Tel Aviv and Washington, to justify the status quo of America’s support for endless military occupation.
many ivory-tower holdouts, half-heartedly clinging to dusty, feeble talking points, insisting on resurrecting corpse of two-state solution, refusing to accept apartheid diagnosis because will make peace “harder, or “morally damning” but “it won’t make a difference.”
increased diversification of the foreign-policy establishment, within Congress, think tanks, academia, and journalism, to, at last, include not just people of color generally, but Muslims and Arabs in particular, has been another factor in this evolution
While in past, Israel loyalists could wield power, influence, &wealth to ensure voices denied tenure, fired from media jobs, or otherwise sidelined professionally, numbers of diverse, critical voices have just become too many to quash, like a never-ending round of whack-a-mole.
the pushback from increasing numbers of members of Congress has been vocal, unequivocal, and unapologetic. It’s not just the most progressive members of Congress
The bottom line is it’s just really hard, in an American society so focused on racial justice, to justify support for an ethno-national state that privileges one racial group over another in a diverse, mixed-race and -religion society.
Real power on Israel-Palestine does not yet reside with the people. But if shifting sentiment about our relationship w Israel is any indication, gap between what US does for Israel & what people think is fair & just has become a chasm that may well create real political change.
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