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How is it treasonous disloyalty to support America's ally against America's enemies? Or does Joe Klein suppose that, if Israel had been destroyed in the Yom Kippur war, her conquerors would now be our friends? The real obstacle to Middle East peace is the refusal of Israel's enemies to repudiate their repeated vows to wipe Israel off the map.

Joe Klein seems to suggest that pro-Israel sentiment in the U.S. is due entirely to the influence of American Jews, as if the other 98% of us are supporters of the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades. And his use of "neoconservative" as a synonym for "Republican Jews" (or "Jewish hawks") is equally misguided, demonstrating a profound misunderstanding of the origins and content of neoconservatism.

Even if one is an anti-war conservative, heeding Washington's warning against foreign entanglements, this still does not validate Joe Klein's position, since he's enthusiastically in favor of other foreign commitments: the United Nations, carbon-emissions agreements, "humanitarian intervention," etc. He very much reminds me of the old definition of a liberal as someone who's afraid to take his own side in an argument.

topics:
Israel, United Nations, Conservatism, Neoconservatism