Back in 2003 I wrote an op-ed for The Jewish Press titled “You Just Might Be an Assimilated Jewish Liberal,” based standup comic Jeff Foxworthy’s “You just might be a redneck” routine. It’s time to revisit that theme, focusing on Israeli leftists rather than American liberals.
● If you think it’s racist when some rabbis call for people not to rent property to Arabs, but it’s a progressive gesture for peace and tolerance to demand that property not be rented or sold to Jews in Sheikh Jarrah and Silwan, then you just might be an Israeli left-wing fascist.
● If you think Israel is an apartheid regime, then you just might be an Israeli left-wing fascist.
● If you think it is the main purpose of universities to indoctrinate students in leftist ideology, then you just might be an Israeli left-wing fascist.
● If you think students displaying posters and t-shirts with images of Nasser, Che Guevara, and bin Laden is legitimate protest but Im Tirtzu students wearing t-shirts with images of Herzl is fascism, then you just might be an Israeli left-wing fascist.
● If you think faculty members should have the right to cheer on terrorism against Jews, to call for Israel’s obliteration, to support lawbreaking, to call for international boycotts against Israel, and to call for Israelis to refuse to serve in the military, while at the same time you consider anyone who criticizes those faculty members for doing such things to be “McCarthyists,” then you just might be an Israeli left-wing fascist.
● If you favor academic departments in which only enlightened leftist opinion may be expressed and where there is no room for non-leftist dissenting opinion to be heard, then you just might be an Israeli left-wing fascist.
● If you think international pressure on Israel to make peace by accepting terms rejected by the majority of Israelis is necessary and valuable, then you just might be an Israeli left-wing fascist.
● If you think Israeli Arabs should be exempt from obeying Israeli laws, then you just might be an Israeli left-wing fascist.
● If you think Haaretz is the epitome of even-handed, responsible, neutral and balanced journalism, then you just might be an Israeli left-wing fascist.
● If you think Israel owes Turkey an apology for its takeover of the Gaza flotilla ships, then you just might be an Israeli left-wing fascist.
● If you think shooting terrorists constitutes “war crimes,” then you just might be an Israeli left-wing fascist.
● If you believe the only legitimate way for Israel to defend its citizens against terrorism is to capitulate to the demands of the terrorists, then you just might be an Israeli left-wing fascist.
● If you insist there are no lessons to be learned from the 8,000 rockets fired at Israel after Israel abandoned the Gaza Strip, then you just might be an Israeli left-wing fascist.
● If you regard all Israeli Arabs as “Israeli Palestinians” but consider it racist when anyone suggests Israeli Palestinians should move to the territory of the Palestinian Authority, then you just might be an Israeli left-wing fascist.
● If you consider it racist when someone suggests Jews should have as much right to live in predominantly Arab areas, including East Jerusalem, as Arabs have to live in Jaffa and Haifa, then you just might be an Israeli left-wing fascist.
● If you see nothing retaliation-worthy in the firing of missiles into Sderot or in the intentional setting of scores of forest fires, then you just might be an Israeli left-wing fascist.
● If you claim Israel conducts ethnic cleansing or genocide, then it is certain you are an Israeli left-wing fascist.
Steven Plaut is a professor at Haifa University. His book “The Scout” is available at Amazon.com. He can be contacted at [email protected].
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