I prefer my talks with my Jewish Liberal friends so much more than my talks with my Jewish Leftist friends. I find so much more common ground.

Most Jewish Liberals in the Diaspora like and even love Israel. They like to visit the country. They are still proud of the IDF and like to take pictures with soldiers. They enjoy walking around the Old City of Jerusalem or going to the Dead Sea and the Golan. They don’t see them as occupied territory (or don't understand what the fuss is about as it looks like Israel to them). They believe that Israel is inherently a good country (with problems).

Their downside is they unfortunately, and misguidedly believe the “Peace Process” is going to actually bring peace, and that a 2-State solution will actually work.

But activities such as trying to get IDF soldiers and Israeli politician arrested for war crimes when they visit overseas, or being ‘mosering’, simply disgusts them on so many levels.


Let me give you another example.

I was just talking to a Liberal friend in the US about the recent attempt at delegitimization of Im Tirtzu. I mentioned that the Left in Israel are trying to compare the NIF to the CIF (Central Israel Fund), and comparing Im Tirtzu and Honeinu to Adallah and ACRI, and expose them to the world.

For instance, in one of their arguments they try to say the CIF is (also?) a tainted organization because they provide funding to Honeinu which provides legal assistance to Israeli citizens who committed what they consider to be ‘nationalistic’ crimes or have ‘nationalistic’ ideologies.

My liberal friend was astounded that the Israeli Left would consider this a reasonable tactic to use - to attack an organization for supplying basic civil rights services to citizens who might not otherwise not get fair or proper representation (and apparently citizens they wouldn’t even consider assisting themselves).

He said to me that the most fundamental principle of the ACLU is that regardless of ideology they would make a point of guarding the rights of everyone. The ACLU even came to the aid of arch-enemy Rush Limbaugh when they felt his civil rights were being violated.


It certainly becomes obvious, that to the Left in Israel, hypocrisy rules, and rights and the rule of law are less relevant to them when you’re seen to be on the wrong side of the ideological fence.

Besides that they helped get Israel attacked in the international political forum, the above is just one of the very significant reasons why people are so disturbed by the NIF expose, while the Left’s “expose” on CIF, Im Tirtzu, Honeinu, Women in Green, etc. doesn’t really bother anyone.


The Jewish Liberal, is not yet the Radical Berkeley Left and certainly isn’t the Israeli Left.

It’s nice to use words to raise money for projects that resonate with Diaspora Jewish liberals and mean something specific to them. But when your application of those words turns out to be something radically different than their understanding of those words, and they learn their money goes to things that they see as very bad for Israel and damaging to Israel, then that dissonance becomes a big problem that trying trash the right as a defense is not going to divert or resolve.