Why the Left-Right schism on Israel? (Pat Buchannan not withstanding)

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I found an interesting article published on a website for the website for the Alliance for Worker’s Liberty (AWL) titled “Zionism, anti-semitism and the left.” A description of the AWL from their website is given as “The “AWL is an organisation fighting as part of the labour movement for a socialist alternative to both capitalism and Stalinism, based on common ownership and democracy.”

The author seems to believe that anti-Capitalism is a factor with the tendency for some in of the Left to have unfavorable feelings towards Israel. The author is primarily talking about anti-Semitism, though this forum topic is merely about the relative support of Israel versus the Palestinians. I am not equating general support for the Palestinians as being anti-Semitic. However, I do think that it’s plausible that a single factor could encourage support for the Palestinians as well as encourage others to have anti-Semitic feelings. I’m not intending this to be an insulting conclusion about the Left, as I’m sure that equivalent scenarios can be found for the Right.

Here are some quotes that I caught my eye (emphasis mine):

Quote:The way in which anti-semitism is distinguished, and should be distinguished, from racism, has to do with the sort of imaginary of power, attributed to the Jews, Zionism, and Israel, which is at the heart of anti-semitism. The Jews are seen as constituting an immensely powerful, abstract, intangible global form of power that dominates the world. There is nothing similar to this idea at the heart of other forms of racism. Racism rarely, to the best of my knowledge, constitutes a whole system that seeks to explain the world. anti-semitism is a primitive critique of the world, of capitalist modernity….

you have people… who argue that the only thing driving American policy in the Middle East is Israel, as mediated by the Jewish lobby. …I’ve argued elsewhere that this sort of argument is anti-semitic. This has nothing to do with the personal attitudes of the people involved, but the sort of enormous global power it accords the Jews (as, in this case, the puppet-masters of the good-natured, slow-witted, giant, Uncle Sam) is typical for modern anti-semitic thought.

More generally that ideology represents what I call a fetishised form of anti-capitalism. That is, the mysterious power of capital, which is intangible, global, and which churns up nations and areas and people’s lives, is attributed to the Jews. The abstract domination of capitalism is personified as the Jews. Anti-semitism is a revolt against global capital, misrecognized as the Jews. This approach might also help explain the spread of anti-semitism in the Middle East in the past two decades.

I also found this interesting headline from a newspaper from 1927:

Quote:"Communist Paper Calls for Renewal of Fight Against Jewish Bourgeoisie." Jewish Telegraphic Agency 13 Jul 1927.