Israel supporter's dramatic shift shocks establishment
An independent Palestinian state is widely seen as meeting both sides aspirations. For many Jews, Israel is an integral part of their identity, on religious grounds or as an insurance policy in the wake of the Holocaust and an age of modern anti-Semitism. Beinart readily concedes that he and many other American Jews have historically paid little attention to Palestinian voices. In the past, he has accused mainstream Jewish American leaders of blind support for what he thinks are self-destructive Israeli policies. Israel is interesting to me only because this is a Jewish state but Jewish and democratic.