Word: israell
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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Zealots are loathe to admit that they would support Israel even if it weren't a democracy, so they invent excuses when Israel strays from the liberal democratic path. Sometimes they deny, sometimes they rationalize, and sometimes they impute the motives of Israel's critics...
When confronted with undeniable evidence of abuses, Zealots sometimes turn to rationalization. "Human rights violations must be taken in context," read one response. Granted, Israel is a threatened nation. Granted, Jews have endured incredible suffering in the past. Granted, Israel's Arab neighbors are, in general, much less observant of civil liberties than Israel...
Perhaps most disturbing to me were the letters that attributed sinister motives to my criticism of Israel. One reader informed me that he could not brook criticism from anyone "whose political purpose goes beyond that of Palestinian nationalism and human rights...
Professor of Law Alan M. Dershowitz accused me of launching a "campaign of vilification against [Israel]." This despite my explicitly identifying myself as a supporter of Israel...
...retrospect, the choice of the word "defend" was poor. But I stand by my accusation that Dershowitz is an inveterate apologist for Israel. My point was not whether Dershowitz approves of human rights violations, but whether he rationalizes them. And indeed he does...