The Political Spectrum regarding Israel

An Outline of the Categories

Above: What AI generated as an image for this post.

There is a spectrum of views regarding Israel and the Palestinians. In this post, I divide it into seven categories. At the extremes are extreme ideological positions; in the middle, there are less extreme positions, tempered with practicalities. Of course, one could create further categories within this spectrum based on finer distinctions; you could create hundreds if not thousands of categories! But I think that while this list could certainly be further refined, with the addition of one or two categories in the middle, and the renaming of some categories that I couldn’t think of good names for, it is an adequate starting model for discussion. And at some point I have to stop tinkering with it, so here it is!

A - Religious Far Right Wing

Jews have a God-given right to the entire Biblical Land. Israel should annex Judea and Samaria (and ideally part of Lebanon too), and should force all potentially hostile non-Jews out of it by any means necessary. Israel can manage whatever consequences happen, because God is on our side. (And Israelis should rarely, if ever, be punished for harming Palestinians.)

B - Historical Right Wing

Up until fairly recently, it was perfectly normal to capture and annex territory, and it’s perfectly moral to annex territory won in a defensive war. The question of whether Israel should annex Judea and Samaria is a strategic rather than moral issue. However, the reality is that there are millions of Levantine Arabs. There are stateless peoples everywhere, so there is no need to give them citizenship, and it should really be upon other Levantine Muslim Arab countries to give them citizenship; but meanwhile they should be allowed to continue living here, with whatever rights do not harm Israeli security or development.

C - Pessimistic Right Wing

The Palestinians, being largely descended from people who lived here for a long time, should also have a degree of political rights here. Unfortunately, there is every reason to fear that given sovereignty, they will use it to attack Israel (in the way that Hamas and Hezbollah did). And there is no reason to believe that this will ever change; there will never be a peaceful resolution. Accordingly, Israel should continue settling Judea and Samaria wherever it will strengthen its position, regardless of the international consequences. Palestinians should be given the maximum rights that do not harm Israeli security.

D - Pragmatic Centrist

The Palestinians, being mostly descended from people who lived here for a long time, and having now formed a national identity, ideally would have their own sovereign state alongside Israel. Unfortunately, there is every reason to fear that given full sovereignty, it will be another failed Islamist state that will attack Israel (in the way that Hamas and Hezbollah did). In the hopes that this may one day change, and/or for the sake of maintaining international legitimacy rather than becoming a pariah state that will suffer sanctions and be weakened, Israel should avoid settling people in areas that would one day be a Palestinian state, and should make it clear that such a state could exist when Palestinian rejectionism of Israel clearly changes.

E - Ideological Left Wing

The Palestinians, being mostly descended from people who lived here since antiquity, also have a right to sovereignty here. The occupation causes great moral harm to Israel, with soldiers engaged in cruel actions. Additionally, the international pressure upon Israel is constantly building up and can cause great harm to Israel. Accordingly, Israel must actively work towards creating a Palestinian state. This should be a demilitarized state, based on the ‘67 border with land swaps, a Palestinian capital in East Jerusalem, and a token return of a small number of refugees. (It is not clear to me what people who take this position suggest should be done when the Palestinian leadership does not agree to such a deal.)

F - Israel-Guilty Left Wing

While the Jews perhaps had some right to statehood, the Palestinians not only also have a right to sovereignty here, but also had a right to violently reject Jewish sovereignty here in any part of the land. Israel bears tremendous guilt for crimes inflicted upon the Palestinians in the past and present, whereas the Palestinians bear very little guilt both for their own suffering and for the suffering that they have caused to Israelis. They are entitled to a fully sovereign state with no limitations on its military, and the return of a large (perhaps unlimited) number of refugees and their descendants to live in Israel. Ideally this results in a Jewish state alongside a Palestinian state, but if this eventually ends up creating problems for Israel, so be it.

G - Progressive Left Wing

The Jews had no right to move to Israel in large numbers and try to create a homeland. Accordingly, the State of Israel was created in sin and should cease to exist as a Jewish state. There should only be one bi-national state between the river and the sea, and every Palestinian, indeed every Arab, has a right to live in any part of it. The Jews can either suffer the consequences or try to find somewhere else to move to.

(For what it’s worth, my personal position hovers around D, with sympathy to those advocating for B, C and E.)

Again, there is endless editing and tinkering that could be done with the above list, and I expect to do so in the future. Meanwhile, here are three observations:

1. As shocking as it may be, there are numerous Jews at every position on this spectrum. I plan to discuss the reasons for this in a different post.

2. Many Jews view those in positions below them as being anti-Israel, and those in positions above them as being right-wing fanatics. I think that this is justifiable with some categories, but not with others. People can be badly mistaken while sincerely believing that they are acting in Israel’s best long-term interests.

3. Even those who declare that they want Israel to exist, and even those who really mean it, may well be pursuing something that will effectively lead to the destruction of Israel, due to their denial of certain realities. This could theoretically apply to people at every stage in the spectrum. But it is especially relevant to those at both extremes, due to their likely being motivated by ideology more than an ability to accept the unpleasant complexities of reality which challenge utopian visions.

On another note, I am visiting the US in February, and I am available for speaking engagements in NY/NJ and Florida. Please write to Ellen at advancement@biblicalnaturalhistory.org if you’d like to arrange something.