Na het begin van de recente Israelische terreur in Gaza schreef ik dat Israel de propagandaoorlog verloren had. Alleen de Europese en Amerikaanse politici staan nog achter de Israelische terreur, de bevolking in het Westen begint zich steeds meer te verzetten tegen de Israelische oorlogsmisdaden. De Britse journalist Geoffrey Wheatcroft, wiens boek The Controversy of Zion een National Jewish Book Award won, schrijft in de International Herald Tribune:'SHIFTING POLLS
Judging Israel
By Geoffrey Wheatcroft
Published: January 13, 2009
For decades now, successive administrations have offered staunch support to Israel, which has plainly been a critical factor guiding Israeli policy. And the U.S. Congress has been even more fervent than the White House. In July 2006, the House of Representatives passed a resolution of total support for Israel by 410 votes to 8, And the newly elected Senate has just reaffirmed "unwavering commitment" to Israel, with the House following suit.
Until recently it could be argued that Capitol Hill was speaking for the American people, but evidence suggests that this no longer so, and that another democratic deficit is opening.
In fact, a potential change of mood has been palpable for some time to any astute observer, such as the late and greatly missed Michael Kelly, a Washington Post columnist and editor of successive magazines, latterly the Atlantic Monthly, before he was killed covering the invasion of Iraq.
Not long before his death, we lunched in Boston, where the Atlantic was then still published, and talked about the Middle East. A smart, funny, bare-knuckled right-winger, Mike Kelly followed what might be called the conservative party line in support of Israel, and he said that middle-aged Middle America was still reliable in this respect. But, he added ruefully, he had found an entirely different story when visiting college campuses - which is confirmed by Tony Judt.
That brilliant historian and shrewd commentator has described an incident some years ago. He was trying to explain to his class at New York University, where he's a professor, the emotional resonance of the Spanish Civil War, and why Spain under Franco had long remained "a land of shame that people boycotted for its crimes and repression," saying that he couldn't think of a contemporary equivalent of any country so disliked and despised.
"What about Israel?" one young woman asked. A onetime schoolboy Zionist, who is now a severe critic of Israel, even Judt was greatly surprised when "most of the class (including many of the sizeable Jewish contingent) nodded their approval. The times they are indeed a-changing."
Those college kids were the next generation of adult American citizens, and we can now see the times a-changing in polls.
A majority of Americans still endorse the Israeli action in Gaza, over those who don't and think Israel should have pursued a diplomatic path - but only by 44 to 41 percent, a much slimmer margin of support than Israel enjoyed quite recently.
More to the point, Democratic voters oppose the Israeli attack by a margin of 22 percent, and a Democrat is, after all, about to be inaugurated as president. The outgoing president has continued to offer Israel total support, and Barack Obama has prudently said nothing at all about Gaza. But he'll have to say as well as do something after he takes office, and before long Washington politicians, on Capitol Hill as well as in the White House, will have to take account of the American people and their changing view of the conflict.
For more than 60 years Israel has shown that it can win every battle by military might. But there is also what the Declaration of Independence calls "a decent respect for the opinions of mankind," and the battle for opinion cannot be won by brute force alone.
Geoffrey Wheatcroft's books include "The Controversy of Zion: Jewish Nationalism, the Jewish State, and the Unresolved Jewish Dilemma."
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