Why are pro­gres­sives so hos­tile to Israel?

Many lib­er­als say things about Israel that are patent­ly false. After the Octo­ber 7 Hamas attack, Barack Oba­ma said that Israel had ​“unclean hands” because of the ​“unbear­able occu­pa­tion”. The trou­ble was, there was no occu­pa­tion. Israel had with­drawn from Gaza almost twen­ty years before.

With his acclaimed wit, his­to­ri­an Uri Kauf­man answers the rid­dle by exam­in­ing the phe­nom­e­non through the dis­tort­ing lens of race. Sim­ply put, Israelis are per­ceived as a white group of priv­i­lege, while Pales­tini­ans are per­ceived as peo­ple of col­or. For pro­gres­sives, fight­ing for peo­ple of col­or is the core val­ue that crowds out all oth­er con­sid­er­a­tions, no mat­ter the facts. It all results in a strange upside-down world where lib­er­als attack Israelis who share their val­ues while embrac­ing Pales­tini­ans who reject them.