The outrageous disproportion between allegations against Israel and against other countries has been noted many times. It has been variously attributed to anti-semitism, left-wing bias, European guilt, truckling to terrorism, truckling to Arab oil and so forth.
What I haven't heard pointed out is that this focus on Israel is the moral equivalent of a civil-rights violation. Western liberals will often want to ignore the disproportion in favor of examining the allegations themselves. After all, if Israel is actually guilty of the imputed crimes, doesn't that fact stand on its own?
Well, as it happens, at least in American thinking, it doesn't. If a sheriff's department consistently pulls a disproportionate number of minorities over for speeding, the question of whether they were actually speeding becomes not-merely secondary but actually irrelevant. When a law is selectively enforced in such a fashion what concerns us is the abuse of power and the probability that ulterior motives are at work. And the standard for "disproportionate" here is way, way below the disproportionate treatment of Israel.
So the next time some BDS proponent or SJP member lamely explains his focus on Israel with "we have to start somewhere" or "I get to choose for myself which issues to be involved in", tell him you look at him as you would Deputy Redneck rousting someone for Driving While Black, with the same near-certainty that his motives are discreditable and the certainty that he's undermining the system that he's claiming to uphold.
What I haven't heard pointed out is that this focus on Israel is the moral equivalent of a civil-rights violation. Western liberals will often want to ignore the disproportion in favor of examining the allegations themselves. After all, if Israel is actually guilty of the imputed crimes, doesn't that fact stand on its own?
Well, as it happens, at least in American thinking, it doesn't. If a sheriff's department consistently pulls a disproportionate number of minorities over for speeding, the question of whether they were actually speeding becomes not-merely secondary but actually irrelevant. When a law is selectively enforced in such a fashion what concerns us is the abuse of power and the probability that ulterior motives are at work. And the standard for "disproportionate" here is way, way below the disproportionate treatment of Israel.
So the next time some BDS proponent or SJP member lamely explains his focus on Israel with "we have to start somewhere" or "I get to choose for myself which issues to be involved in", tell him you look at him as you would Deputy Redneck rousting someone for Driving While Black, with the same near-certainty that his motives are discreditable and the certainty that he's undermining the system that he's claiming to uphold.
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