Ben Cohen of the AJC wrote to me about the RI’s point in our recent report on Israel’s challenge of delegitimization about ”engaging the critics and isolating the delegitimizers.”
Ben gave an interesting example about a piece that he wrote for several blogs attacking a British Labour MP who wrote a disgracefully anti-Semitic article about Israel (http://www.hurryupharry.org/2010/03/09/lying-in-gaza/(
Andrew Sullivan – who has been locked in a bruising argument with Leon Wieseltier, after the latter accused him of anti-Semitism – approvingly linked Ben’s piece (see http://andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com/the_daily_dish/2010/03/lying-in-gaza.html), notwithstanding that Sullivan continues to be a strong challenger of Israel.
Sullivan is considered one of the top political bloggers in the world, and the piece Ben wrote moved him to state that anti-Zionism and anti-Semitism often overlap.
So, as Ben says, our challenge is to explore how to get other prominent critics to follow his example, and thus set some parameters for reasonable, policy-driven, debate about Israel.
