The progressive wing of the Democrat Party has become openly anti-Israel, warns attorney and Israel advocate Alan Dershowitz, who claimed on Wednesday that the American far-left has turned opposition to the Jewish state into an article of faith and is forcing left-wing Jews to tow the anti-Israel line – or be ostracized from progressive circles.
In a piece published on The Algemeiner, Dershowitz, himself a life-long Democrat, noted the active efforts by progressive-left groups to root out Israel supporters from their ranks, and to pressure Jewish members to renounce Israel.
Pointing to left-wing organizations like Black Lives Matter, MoveOn, CodePink, and Occupy Wall Street, Dershowitz claims that the left-wing of the Democratic Party has adopted the “unique brand of bigotry” pushed by the BDS movement.
“The self-described ‘progressive wing’ of the Democratic Party… has become openly opposed to the nation state of the Jewish people. Increasingly, these organizations demand that their members and ‘allies’ renounce support for Israel and for Zionism in order to belong.”
Dershowitz cites a number of incidents reflecting the increasingly hostile atmosphere on the far-left towards Israel and Jews who refuse to denounce the State of Israel.
Last year Susan Talve, whom Dershowitz described as a “longtime activist on race issues”, was rejected by the Black Lives Matter movement because of her advocacy on behalf of Israel.
“Solidarily from Ferguson to Palestine has become a central tenet of the movement,” BLM activists told her.
“Israeli and US state oppression are deeply interconnected.”
This year, Black Lives Matter activists “broke up a gay pride event,” wrote Dershowitz, “because it featured a presentation by an Israeli group.”
“The protestors claimed that the event organizers had engaged in ‘pinkwashing’ the Israeli occupation by showing solidarity with the Israeli LGBTQ community.”
Also, the National Women’s Studies Association (NWSA), a left-wing organization of gender studies professors, has barred Israel supporters, following a 2015 decision to endorse the BDS movement.
“[O]ne cannot call themselves a feminist… without taking a stand on what is happening in Palestine,” one pro-BDS member explained.
But the progressive-left’s opposition to Israel does not stem simply from contemporarily political issues or Israeli government policies, says Dershowitz. Rather, he claims, the far-left opposes the existence of Israel per se, claiming that “Israel is an imperialistic, apartheid, genocidal, and colonialist enterprise”.
Some far-left groups even go so far to oppose “programs or events aimed at Israeli-Palestinian reconciliation”, rejecting peaceful solutions in favor of demonization of Israel’s supposed “colonialist nature”.