The Left's critical progressive discourse on Israel is permeating the mainstream of the Democratic Party, Tel Aviv think tank Reut Group warned in its latest report examining the American left's attitudes during the Israel-Gaza conflict.
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"The current progressive discourse outlines how social groups are perceived in a dichotomous manner, or as the virtuous and the oppressor," said Daphna Kauffman, the author of the report.
"In domestic politics, Jews are registered as white oppressors, and so is Israel in a progressive perspective on foreign policy. Especially during Operation Guardian of the Walls, those with anti-Israel views promoted the comparison between the Palestinian struggle and the struggle for black lives in the US," she said.
According to Kauffman, such a comparison resonates among progressives, as does the comparison made by anti-Zionist elements between Israel to apartheid-era South Africa.
As a result, a growing faction of progressives within the Democratic party have called for an end to US support for Israel and an end to the America's special relationship with the Jewish state. They criticize US President Joe Biden's policy which, they claim, treats Israel preferentially rather than as an oppressor.
A partner concept to this is "equity of outcome," which states that "given an assumption that all human beings are equally deserving, and one group enjoys a pervasive advantage in outcome over another, the logical conclusion is that the advantaged group is unfairly taking from the other."
"Usually, this term refers to the level of wealth and economic and social status," Kauffman explained. "However, in Operation Guardian of the Walls, this perception was expressed in the number of casualties, which was an indication that Israel is to blame for the situation. As a result, Israel has been accused of using disproportionate and illegal force."
The rise of this progressive discourse in the Democratic party, argues Kauffman, threatens to make reservations and even hostility towards Israel an inseperable part the Democratic Party.
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