UK columnist: ‘Israel now more wicked and dangerous than Hamas’

Honest Reporting has the story:

Yasmin Alibhai-Brown, a columnist for The Independent, has much a long history when it comes to poisonous diatribes against Israel and Jews who support the state. She regularly describes Israel as a “racist” and “apartheid” state yet claims that some of her best friends are Jewish.  Her latest screed continues in this vein with some particularly disturbing comments even by her low standards. Chief among these is this statement:

Hamas is a wicked and dangerous force in the Middle East. But Israel is now more wicked and dangerous.

A look at the evil and anti-Semitic Hamas Charter, not to mention Hamas’s deliberate targeting of Israeli civilians as recently as last summer, is enough to demonstrate that the real wickedness on display here is Alibhai-Brown’s despicable claim that Israel is more virulent than a vicious terror organization.
But that is only one of many issues with Alibhai-Brown’s piece. She begins by praising Time magazine columnist Joe Klein for criticizing Israel even though he is, according to her, a “loyal Zionist all his life.” She writes:

It took courage to write with such honesty. It took a perceptive and reflective Jew to articulate what millions felt around the world. He will, by now, have felt the slings and arrows of outraged zealots.

Furthermore:

It isn’t easy to be a principled and mindful Diasporic Jew. Accused of treachery by insiders and mistrusted by outsiders, they can’t win.

Some still do censure the racist Israeli state, but carefully. Many don’t speak out because criticism of Israel provokes defensive Zionist fury and bolsters diehard anti-Semites.

On the contrary, it does not take a great deal of courage to criticize Israeli policies. Plenty of Diaspora Jews do that and it is their right to do so. If they do so “carefully” it is because they are not indulging in the demonization and delegitimization that characterizes so much of the hateful invective aimed at Israel these days. Aside from the Diaspora, even more Israelis are critical of their own government as befits a healthy democracy which has just held an intensely fought election. Of course, Alibhai-Brown can’t help but add the “racist” adjective into the mix as well treating Zionism as a dirty ideology.
Alibhai-Brown continues:

Many of us Muslims are caught in the same bind: if we condemn Islamicist ideologues, defensive Muslims get furious and anti-Muslim hatred is boosted.

More.