Israel's Budapest moment? posted by bat020

In the wake of the second Qana massacre, it's worth revisiting a sharp question that Owen Hatherley asked a few days ago:

At the risk of being accused of a Zizek-like tendency to read any and all current political phenomena through the prism of Stalinism, reading recent apologias for barbarism by Aaronovitch et al and the appalling Standard headline mentioned by IT, one can't help but find a parallel.

Namely, with the way a section of the Left, through the purges, the show trials, the Nazi Soviet pact, the Eastern bloc coups, persisted in seeing the USSR as the workers' state that had bravely resisted foreign intervention in 1919, as the torch bearer of socialism, as the good guys.

Similarly, for many commentators it's permanently 1947 - instead of being by far the most bloated military power in the region, Israel is a plucky little guerilla state fighting for its very existence. Which begs the question - what will be Israel's Budapest 1956, the moment where they can't be publicly excused without it seeming utterly absurd?

I suspect Israel's Budapest moment is now. The increasingly hysterical - and nonsensical - tone of Zionist apologetics is a symptom of their inability to convince anyone outside the diminishing circle of true believers of the veracity of their case.

This is borne out by the size and vigour of anti-war protests both here in Britain and around the world. The Downing Street protest called by Stop the War last Friday was significantly larger and angrier than similar protests held over Iraq and Afghanistan.

All the indications are that a significant layer of people - including many who had misgivings over Iraq but did not actively oppose the occupation there - are gobsmacked by Israel's callous brutality and Tony Blair's barely concealed approval of what Israel is doing to Lebanon.

The political dynamic unfolding in Lebanon also suggests the old rules no longer apply. A week ago many people in Beirut were concerned that the pro-imperialist rightwing forces such as those headed by Jumblat and Hariri could rally and rearm.

But the wave of solidarity in the country has had precisely the opposite effect - attempts by these political leaders to blame the carnage in Lebanon on the resistance have been publicly repudiated even by senior members of their own parties. The pro-imperialist camp has split, not rallied.

All in all, this is the end of the road Zionism's left pretentions.