The Cool Jews Who Take the Palestinian Side

Have you noticed the surge of condemnations even among Palestinian voices over the sheer cruelty of Hamas murdering the Bibas boys, including a baby, with their bare hands and showing off their caskets? Why should we be surprised? This depravity went so deep it transcended all boundaries of decency and ideology.

Alas, of course, I’m lying. There were no such condemnations.

Even the mainstream media played down the cruelty. As Rachel O’Donoghue reported in JPost, “Mainstream media outlets barely acknowledged the sheer depravity…offering only the most muted references to the macabre show.”

This is in keeping with a historic pattern where much of the world, including international bodies like the United Nations, take the Palestinian side while singling out Israel for condemnations that violate all standards of fairness.

When I remind friends on the left that the UN has condemned Israel more than all other nations combined, they roll their eyes, as if to say: “Duh. Everyone knows that.”

But luckily for Palestinians, in addition to being arguably the most coddled and celebrated victims on the planet, they’ve been blessed to have yet another major group on their side: Leftist Jews in America.

For many of these chronic critics, nothing gives them the goosebumps like caring for the stranger– in this case, the Palestinians. This is true regardless of any extenuating circumstances, like, say, Palestinian cruelty.

Indeed, as I noted recently in a separate column, on Feb. 13, while Hamas was celebrating its torture of Israeli hostages, 350 liberal rabbis chose another outrage for their full-page ad in The New York Times: President Trump’s plan to rebuild Gaza. The ad read, in full: “Trump has called for the removal of all Palestinians from Gaza. Jewish people say NO to ethnic cleansing!”

As I wrote: “There was no mention of the Oct. 7 Hamas massacre of 1200 Israelis, or that Palestinians were living in misery under the thumb of Hamas… Suddenly, rabbis who pride themselves on recognizing complexity became narrow, context-free, one-sided bashers on behalf of Palestinians.”

These Jews were doing what makes them feel good. They were taking the other side. They were proudly living on that higher plane of speaking up for non-Jews. Compared to that morally superior place, Jews who like to defend their own people are reduced to primal, predictable partisans.

In America, caring for Palestinians makes you a cool Jew. After all, isn’t it a sign of bravery and integrity to take the side of the group you were not born into? If I’m a Jew who defends Israel, how does that make me any different than an Angeleno who’s a diehard Lakers fan?

Jews defending Jews, even in a Jew-hating world, is boring and predictable. Cool Jews who defend Palestinians have always enjoyed rubbing that in and giving other Jews a guilt trip. How dare you be so uncaring about the other side? Aren’t you ashamed of being so tribal?  

It’s not that tribal Jews never criticize Israel or that cool Jews never say anything good about Israel. It’s just that when cool Jews do say something good about Israel, it’s usually tinged with the anguish of “tough love” and the proverbial “but” that lets them unleash their real message: how much they care for Palestinians and how un-tribal they are.

Let us acknowledge, however, that there is one key area where cool Jews are intensely tribal and predictable: politics.

Just as primal Jews will defend Israel with the passion of Lakers fans, cool Jews will defend their political party with the ferocity of a mother bear fighting for her cub.

Just as primal Jews focus on bashing Hamas for their cruelty, cool Jews prefer bashing Republicans for destroying America.

If primal Jews are ambivalent about piling on publicly against Israel, cool Jews have no such ambivalence. They will never bash their party in public, lest it helps the “Hitler” on the other side.

Cool Jews, in short, will bash their own only when it comes to Israel. When it’s about defending their political tribe, they become just as primal as any primate.

Their favorite term is “Jewish values.” From defending Palestinians to supporting their party to bashing Israel to hating on Republicans, it all falls under that rubric. “Jewish values” is the moral analgesic that makes them feel good about everything they do.

Evidently, it hasn’t occurred to these Jews that when so much of the world is already against your people, sticking up for them without any “buts” is also a great Jewish value– assuming, of course, that you can handle being uncool.