The deepest insight for understanding the lenses people use to understand the world comes from @KlingBlog in his superb, concise book, The Three Languages of Politics. Simple idea. Liberals see the world as a struggle between oppressor and oppressed. Conservatives see the 1/
When I was a clueless young leftist I too believed Israel was the oppressor and Palestinians were the oppressed, because that’s what everyone around me was saying, and my empty mind was a vacuum that sucked it all up. Once I escaped my echo-chamber, and began to objectively assess the facts, I realized just how unfairly Israel has been demeaned —... See more
Unlike with South African apartheid, Israel gives its Arab citizens all the rights available to its Jews, and it even has Arabs sitting in the Knesset. Further, Israel allows Palestinians into Israel to work, though, since millions of Arabs want to see Israel obliterated, Israel must carefully vet those it welcomes. And given the flow of weapons... See more
Overall, Israel, like all countries, has committed some crimes and many mistakes. But it has offered more opportunities to the Palestinians than the Palestinian leaders have. And it has proven less tyrannical than any of its Arab neighbors would be if they’d had the same military might and were subjected to the same 75 years of constant existential... See more